DSRoyal Road LMS Fan Fiction
by Vielfras
Summary: What if the game "Royal Road" from the Legendary Moonlight Sculptor was real? How would you play it? What would others use it for? A virtual reality mmorpg raises many ethical and moral question. I'll try to explore some of them during the adventures of my character inside of the game. This is a stand alone, and can be read without reading the original novel. Bi-weekly chapters
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Ladies and gentlemen" a short, gray haired announcer screamed into the microphone. "It is my great pleasure to introduce to you tonight's players!" he roared with enthusiasm, his oily hair reflecting the light of the projectors.

A dozen men stood on the edge of a large pit in the middle of the place, all of them were looking at the ground blinded by the strong light projected at them. The men saw nothing, yet could clearly hear the sound of excited talking and the clapping of hands around them.

"You can view their personal data on your displays whenever you wish during the event." The announcer nodded into the darkness and the projectors turned off. "The waiters will arrive with your food shortly, in the meantime while you are waiting for the main matches we hope you will enjoy some of the most beautiful animals alive" he paused as the light in the pit slowly lighted up, reviling rows of cages full of wild and exotic animals, "tearing each other to pieces!".

He grinned lifting his hands as if he wanted to hug the whole pit.

Food was brought in, the murmur of anticipation was almost deafening, and when the last plate was placed in front of its respective client, two tigers were unleashed on each other and the murmur became a roar of cheers. All the attention was on the arena as the tigers locked teeth and claws with each other. The man running to the doors was ignored completely and would have gone out the doors unnoticed if not for the guard waiting beside them. "I'm sorry sir, but you need to return to your seat."

"Quiet, I need to talk to the ringleader!" he said with such authority the guard almost let him through.

"Again, sir, I am sorry, but none can leave the room until the event is done." the guard told the man, and crossed his arms.

"You listen to me now, and listen well! Tell who ever that is on the other side of your headphone that if they want to see any of my money today they better listen to what I have to say. Tell them it is well worth their time."

The guard just stood there surprised at the man's actions. "Well? How much more time are you going to waste, start talking!" the man ordered.

A short moment after the doors were opened from the other side and another guard motioned the man to follow him. The man was taken to a large room and sat in front of the announcer. "I am told you wanted to speak to me, how can I help you Mr... Hmm" he glanced at the screen where the man's file was opened "Rainold?"

"I wish to buy one of your fighters."

"Oh, really? You don't say... well if so I am afraid I cannot help you. I hope you will return to your table now." He smiled at the Rainold.

"I will not! I shall stay here until we have negotiated a price."

" I'm afraid you do not understand, this is not a matter of money. Our fighters today, as you are very well aware, are the winners of their respective regions. You have witnessed their ability first hand in the event you attended in London. I have promised you and the rest of the audience a chance to see a champion and I must keep my word." The smile never left his face.

Mr. Rainold took out a checkbook from his pocket filled it out and sled it in front of the announcer. "What is this?" he said, smiling more than ever. "I do not care for your acting, write down a number and it shall be paid to you in full." A sweat drop slid down Rainold's face and disappeared under his suit.

"I forgot to ask , which fighter is that you wish to acquire?" looking slightly interested now.

"The Black Dragon."

The announcers smile turned into a grin." And what is it you would like to do with him if I may ask?"

"That is not your concern. Write down your sum and have him sent to my car." He stood up and was already out of the door when the announcer said, "I do hope you will stay to see the other matches. You should try to get some of your money back."

"I will leave once I have finished eating. Thank you for your concern."

"Where did you go, dear?" asked M' once her husband sat back at his plate. "Nothing to worry about honey, I'm just taking care of my future in the company."

He was happy; it has been a long time since he felt so happy. It was this unhappiness that led him to these underground fighting matches. He had more money than he could ever spend yet he was bored. In his wildest dreams he would have never believed his search for thrills would bring to such a discovery.

The food was good and the first match was as bloody as he liked it. His was in a great mood and wished he could stay, but he needed to get himself back to Europe as fast as possible.

Done eating he stood up only to sit back down again. The announcer walked to the edge of the pit speaking to the audience with glee. Rainold tried to listen but nothing registered in his mind, all he could comprehend was the figure the announcer kept pointing at. The man he just bought, the one who was supposed to be waiting for him in his car, was standing at the bottom of the pit looking bored. Rainold couldn't make himself curse the announcer or try to argue, he knew it was too late. He would get what he bought, it will be delivered to his car, or at least what remained of him would.

He breathed out with relief when he saw cages rolled into the pit. 'If the opponent isn't human then he won't even be harmed.' He pressed the button that summoned the waiter.

"Dear, quick bet on the wolves, quick. I have a feeling the gray one with the brown back will get the kill." M' mugged her husband to no avail.

"No..."

"Not him? Who then? The other wolves look so much smaller than him, I'm betting on the gray one."

"No."

"Dear?"

"Bet on the boy."

"Sweetie, please. Be serious he has no chance, look; the odds are 30 to 1 against him. He has no cha..."

"It's okay." Color was starting to come back to Rainold's face. "Don't worry; he would win regardless of the opponent, I just feel sorry for the pups."

His wife gave him a strange look. She trusted her husband, He may like to take risks, but he never took unnecessary risks, he wouldn't have made his fortune otherwise.

"How much should I put?" she sighed, putting her faith in her husband.

"All of it." Rainold said calmly as he ordered desserts.

"I said all of it honey, you better hurry before they close the bids."

Looking at her husband's smile she put her bid on the "Black Dragon", looked at her husband again only to see him relaxed in his chair. So she took a few breaths, rechecked their bid and pushed back against the seats back turning her head to watch the next match.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One - Not Completely Back Home Yet**

"Dear, why did you leave the money?" M' was on the verge of hysteria.

"I bought something with it, honey."

"With all of it?" She looked at her husband nodding calmly as they were walking back to their car.

She bet 10 million dollars and won. With the odds as they were, their winning totaled 300 million.

"What in god's name could cost 300 million?" She was almost running after her husband now.

"Stop rushing and answer me, what did you spend the money on?"

"On him." He pointed at their car that came into view.

M' stopped looking at her husband and followed his finger. Her hands shot up to her mouth to hold back a scream.

"Jon, I missed you so much." hugged the man covered in wolf blood.

"What are you doing? Get away from him." She would have pulled her husband back but she was too terrified of the same gray wolf she wanted to bet on.

"It's nice to see you again, Joshua."

Joshua Rainold looked shocked; the boy he remembered was gone, replaced by this emotionless man.

"Bring him something to wipe himself with!" he yelled to the driver.

"Don't worry. Used to this. Put something on your seat, it will get dirty." The dead look in his eyes never wavered.

motioned his wife to get in the car; he decided there will be enough time to think about all of this later.

"Don't worry about it, just get in, let's go home." His hand on Jon's shoulder he gently nudged him into the car, but Jon refused to move.

"What about him?"

"Who?"

He looked at his feet and Joshua followed the stare, reacting the same way his wife did.

"What is that?" he backed into the car.

"A wolf."

"I can see that! But why is it with you?"

"He wanted to come."

"We can't take him, send him away."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure! We can't fly a wolf into Greece."

"..."

Joshua wavered for a moment seeing for the first time, Jon's expressionless face show a hint of emotion. As he got on one knee and took the wolf's head in his hands he looked sad. But with a quick twist, the wolf fell to the floor motionless and Jon's face was again unreadable.

He stared at Jon with disbelief, he expected him to have changed after participating in the underground fights, but for him to kill an animal as if he were opening a bottle shocked him more than anything he had ever seen. The boy he had known would never harm an animal; he refused to swat a mosquito, let alone break a wolf's spine.

"It's better this way."

"Wha...Why…ehh how is it better?"

"They would have taken him back and made him fight again, at least I killed him painlessly."

He got in the car and asked where they were going.

"Home." said nothing until they got there.

"This isn't my home."

"No, it is not. I talked to Gorge and we decided it would be best if you lived here until we know more. No one will bother you here."

"Gorge? Will he be there?"

"Yes. He will take care of you just like when you were a kid."

A little smile appeared on Jon's face as he remembered his childhood.

"I wish dad were here too."

"We all do."

They were heading to an island not far from Greece. It was used as a vacation house for the heads of their company. However since Richard's death it was always empty.

The island was covered with wild plants and was left as it had been, except for a small house not far from the beach. A boat was tied at the dock and Joshua maneuvered his yacht next to it.

"This must be Gorge's. Follow the path; I need to gather some things before I follow you."

Jon jumped off the deck and started walking up a dirt path.

Joshua was looking at him till he disappeared into the bush. He couldn't help but remember the old days, which put tears in his eyes.

Five years passed with them not hearing a word about Jon. He believed Jon was dead and seeing him alive and well, at least physically, was just too confusing. He didn't leave Jon's side from the moment they got in the car, and only now that he was alone did he finally come to terms with the fact.

-'Gorge knows what to do'- he thought to himself and sighed 'no need to hurry now'. He sat down on the ledge and looked at the horizon losing himself in his thoughts.

Jon didn't walk long when the house came into view. It was a three story cottage, made entirely out of wood. Trees surrounded it hiding it almost entirely out of view. Only the windows and the front porch protruding out of the foiledge were visible.

He walked lazily up the two steps that led onto the porch and looked at the front door blast open, hitting the wall with a load thump.

An old man ran out of the house and right at him. He was ready to fight back the moment the door opened but he lowered his defenses when he saw the old man was weeping.

The old man collided into Jon and hugged him with all his strength. He was crying now into Jon's chest yet Jon's hands stayed firm at his side.

"I can't believe it's you." It was hard to understand him with all the weeping. "I've missed you so much young master, oh so much." The tears kept on falling.

Jon kept quiet. He recognized Gorge now, but simply didn't know what to say. So he said nothing, as there was nothing better to say.

Gorge was still crying. There seemed to be no end to the tears, so they stood there until Jon finally decided to speak.

"Don't cry." was all that came out. He wanted to say more, but nothing came out. To Gorge it was more than enough, it was the same voice he heard so long ago.

"Let us go inside, I've prepared some food." The tears stopped and a smile covered his face now, making him look thirty years younger.

They sat at the dining table, Jon stuffing himself not even chewing the food, Gorge wiping away a tear every other minute when came in. He nodded at Gorge a stood next to him keeping silent as well.

"I'm tired." He said it so suddenly the two other men in the room looked around to see if there was someone else with them.

"Yes, I'm sure you are… go up and choose yourself a room you like, I need to speak to Joshua. I will wake you up for breakfast tomorrow."

Jon stood up, but not before stuffing his mouth with some more food, and walked up the stairs.

"Good night," said .

"Sleep tight," said Gorge.

They waited until they heard the sound of the door upstairs shut close.

"Gorge, I…" He was interrupted by Gorge who hugged him.

"I do not care Joshua, not today. You have already told me the important parts over the phone, the rest can wait. I will not judge you and I 'm not going to ask what it was that you were doing there." He looked at sympathetically.

"I am forever grateful to you. You have proven yourself a true friend and a trusted man. Lord knows there aren't many like you among the other board directors."

sat put two glasses on the table and poured in whisky from the bottle he brought with him.

"I can use a drink, Gorge, the past couple of days were very long."

Gorge sat down and downed the glass in one go. A drink was something he needed as well.

He extended his glass to for a refill.

"Hits the spot doesn't it?" He laughed. They both did.

"Sit down Joshua; we have a long night ahead of us."

"You are right, I have to return tomorrow, with you here my workload will triple." He sat down and sipped his drink.

"Do not worry about the work; I can take care of it from here," he sighed. "The problem is not in that… what do we do now? He's not himself… It's like he doesn't even remember me at all."

"He does. Gorge. He smiled when I told him that it's you who will be taking care of him."

"He did." Tears appeared at the edges of his eyes again. "That's good. I was afraid he lost his feelings completely. He just looked bored. Bored when he met me, bored while he ate and bored when he finished eating. Like he wasn't even there…"

"Give him time, Gorge, that's all he needs now. Time with someone he knows and who loves him."

"We have to keep him a secret," he suddenly looked afraid, "who knows what they will do if they find out he is alive. They might kill him; we have to keep him hidden."

"It's okay, Gorge, leave it to me, I'll make sure they'll never find out about him, not until we want them to, at least, I'm quite good at these things." He smiled and poured himself another drink.

"As long as we are careful around Yo, we have nothing to worry about. He's the only one who's still aggressively trying to take the control over the company, the rest seem to have already accepted you."

"I know that, I'm just afraid they'll try to get rid of him. Even if he doesn't decide to lead the company, he still owns the majority of the shares… He can overrule their every decision. They aren't going to stand by and let him be."

"Don't worry, I'm on your side, and while it seems otherwise, there are still many who remember and respect his father. They will stand by us, I'm certain of that."

"Oh, Joshua, what will we do with him, we need to get him help."

"It's fine, listen; he's not as far gone as you seem to think. I kept my eyes on him closely while we traveled, he's just distant. Who knows what he went through these five years. We don't need to hurry. All we need to do is…"

The first rays of sunshine hit the dew gathered in the night. If someone looked out of the window at that time he would see an already beautiful island turn into a paradise. The whole island shone as if covered by thousands of gems.

A scene lost, with none to look at. Out of the only three men on the island, one was asleep and the other two were too occupied, to take the time to look outside.

"I should get back." Said one of them,

"Stay for breakfast, at least." The other man stood up slowly.

"Can't. I have a plane to catch."

"I see. Well, it's goodbye then."

"It is. Gorge… good luck." He extended his hand forward.

"Thank you, the same to you." He shook his hand and ended it with a fatherly embrace.

"Don't forget to make him bathe. He won't do it unless you tell him to."

"I'll make sure to tell him."

Both man sighed out loud and smiled at each other.

"See ya."

"Good bye."

left and Gorge entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast. He heard the sound of the yachts engine start up right as the water in the pot started to boil. He turned off the gas and headed upstairs to wake up Jon.

There was no trouble finding the room he chose, with dirty foot marks leading to it. He opened the door slowly and froze in place. He swallowed hard, trying to swallow a sudden fear that hit up him. The pair of eyes looking at him from the corner of the dark room seemed more beast than man's.

He reminded himself that it was only Jon, yet the goose bumps refused to disappear from his skin. "It's me, Jon." He said with a chocked voice.

"Why are sitting in the corner like that? Didn't you like the bed?" He tried to smile.

Jon continued to stare silently.

-'Just continue talking to him, Joshua said it will make a difference eventually."-

"Come on, Jon, on your feet now."

Jon stood up obediently, still staring from his corner.

"Did you sleep well?"

"…"

"You look rested."

"…"

"I've made breakfast." Jon's eyes relaxed at the sound of this, "Let's go eat it together." He smiled and motioned to the door.

Jon moved cautiously towards the door, passing Gorge carefully. Gorge followed him closely downstairs.

"Go, wash up while I set the table. The bathroom is to the left."

"…"

Gorge smiled to himself, reminding himself it will all be fine in the end.

They ate together, although Gorge talked more than he ate. He spoke to Jon about everything and anything, trying to vary the topics as much as he could. He wanted to get some response out of Jon but it was no use. Jon listened, but didn't say anything back.

For more than an hour they sat at the table and Jon only uttered one word.

"More".

Gorge made more food and Jon said no more.

He was cleaning the table when the phone rang.

"Yes."

"I see…" he looked at Jon, who sat and stared at the space.

"Forward it to me, I'll take care of it."

"Ok."

"Jon…" He closed he phone, "I need to take care of some work will you be okay."

"…" Jon looked at him or more like through him.

"Do you have anything you want to do?"

"…"

"There's always the T.V if you don't feel like doing anything." He felt like he was speaking to the air. But Jon stood up, and walked to the living room where he sat and turned on the T.V.

A Greek news show was airing and Jon didn't bother to change the channel. He just sat there staring at the T.V, Gorge doubted he even saw it.

-'Well at least I don't need to worry about him going anywhere.'- Gorge relaxed and left to the workroom hoping to finish as fast as possible.

It was the usual work, approving this, changing that. His secretary had already taken care of most of it, he just had to give his final approval on the matter.

It was going smooth, he finished most of the work after two hours, and he decided to go down and check on Jon.

He could hear the sound of the T.V, it was still on the same news channel. He entered the living room and freaked out when he couldn't see Jon.

He ran to the middle of the room almost stepping on Jon who was lying on the floor.

"What are you doing?" he yelled, "Why are you on the floor?" he was slowly regaining his calm.

"Training," he said, and began doing push-ups.

Only now did Gorge notice that Jon was covered in sweat.

"Why?" he sat down on the sofa.

"…"

"Jon! Listen to me, what are you training for?"

"…"

"Jon, you don't need to do this anymore, you will never need to fight again. It is fine you are safe now."

Jon continued to lift himself up and down from the floor.

"Jon…" Gorge felt desperate, he pulled Jon up from the floor and tried to sit him down on the sofa, but Jon resisted.

"Jon, stop it!" He was yelling again, however, Jon looked unaffected. "You will never have to fight again."

"I know." Jon was looking him in the eyes.

"Then why are you doing this?"

"…"

Gorge released Jon and backed away from the living room. Before he even exited the room Jon was already on the floor again, pushing himself up from it repeatedly. Gorge felt helpless and powerless. He stood there, watching over Jon, contemplating on how to deal with him.

He made up his mind and decided to start immediately. Jon seemed to do what he was told even if he kept silent, so he will use that to his advantage.

"Jon!"

"…"

"Jon are you listening?"

"…"

"Jon, answer me!" He said with a commanding tone, "Are you listening?"

"Yes."

"Good." It worked, "From now on whenever I ask you something you will answer me. Do you understand?"

Jon stood up and looked him in the eyes. For a second Gorge regretted speaking this way, but he steeled his will and continued.

"Do you understand Jon?"

"I do."

"Very good. Now answer me, why are exercising?"

Jon didn't answer immediately this time, he looked as if he were searching for the right words.

"I…"

"I…eh… I"

"It's okay Jon. You can tell me." Gorge felt the muscles of his face relaxing as his heart went out to the poor boy.

"I'm bored."

Gorge couldn't stop himself from laughing. That was all, boredom? He imagined such horrible things and all it was, was boredom.

"It's no wonder you're bored, you've been watching the news for the past two hours and you can't even understand a word."

Jon looked at the television screen and then fixed his eyes back at Gorge. He looked as if he were waiting for something.

"Jon, tell me, why didn't you change the channel?"

"You said watch T.V."

"Yes, I did. But why didn't you change the channel if you wanted to?"

"…"

Jon looked confused; he kept throwing his gaze from Gorge to the television screen. He looked like he was sweating more than a minute ago. Gorge was about to ask him the same question again when it finally hit him.

-'He does exactly what I tell him! He's waiting for permission! I didn't state he was allowed to change the channel and so he didn't.'-

"Jon, look at me."

"You can watch whichever channel you want, do you understand? Change it as much as you want until you find something you like. Ok?"

"Ok."

Jon sat down on the sofa, the bored expression back on his face again.

Gorge felt better, he felt like he understood what the real problem was now, or at least the first problem he needed to solve.

-'It will take some time.'- Gorge decided. He turned to head back to his work when he remembered 's words right before he left.

"Jon, go take a shower before you start channel surfing."

Jon stood up and went towards the bathroom.

"Jon, I can't know if you heard me if you don't say anything."

Jon stopped in his tracks.

"Where are you going?"

"Shower."

"Good. I put some spare clothes in your room. Put some on when you're done showering and throw what you're wearing in the trash. Once you're done you can go back to watching television."

"Oh, and you can change the channel how many times you want. You got all that?"

"Yes."

Gorge sat down at his desk feeling much relieved and continued his work. It was late in the afternoon when he finally finished. He checked the time and saw that they should've already eaten. He checked on Jon to see if everything was ok, and assured that it was he went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

"Jon, food's ready, come join me at the table." Gorge was finishing setting the table when Jon came and sat down. Jon immediately started to pile food on his plate.

"Say, thank you, Jon."

"Thank you."

"Bonapetit" Gorge sat down and started eating as well.

"So Jon, did you find anything you liked?" he asked when Jon was busy taking seconds.

"Yes."

"Really? Will you tell me about it?"

"…" he seemed to be too preoccupied with stuffing food in his mouth to bother with answering.

"I thought we had an agreement, Jon. Please, answer me when I'm asking you something. What did you watch?" He finished eating and was now watching Jon trying to swallow large chunks of meat without chewing.

"Aphagme"

"Chew you food properly, it's not going to run away from you."

"A game." He said again once he swallowed.

"What game?"

"Video game."

"A video game? And they were showing it on television?"

"Yes."

"Must be one hell of a game then. What is it called?"

"Royal Road."

"What is it about?" he was trying to make Jon continue talking and the game was as good as a topic as any.

"…"

-'I need to be more specific with him.'- He took a moment to think and rephrased his question.

"What did you like about the game?"

"Not boring."

"Hah" he laughed, "Would you like to play Royal Road as well, Jon?"

Jon stopped eating and looked up at Gorge. He swallowed slowly and said with a begging voice, "Yes!"

"Very well then. I will give my secretary a call and ask her to send you a copy."

"Have you finished eating?"

"Yes."

"Ok. You can do whatever you want until dinner."

Jon stood up and walked back to the living room.

"Jon," Gorge followed, "if you feel hungry you can take what you like from the refrigerator, ok?"

"Ok." His eyes were already glued to the screen.

"Ok." Gorge smiled and left him alone.

"Silia." He phoned his secretary from the office.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"I need you to get me something."

"A game."

"Don't worry, I'll find the time."

"No, keep forwarding the work here."

"Royal Road."

"Make sure it gets here by tomorrow, understood?"

"Very well."

"Yes."

"Goodbye."

He hung up.

-'Might as well call Jushua too.'- He said 's name to the phone and waited.

"How are you doing, Gorge?"

"Better than expected, Joshua. Much better in fact."

"That's good to hear."

"Yes, he doesn't talk much, but he answers when I ask him something. However, the answer must be simple or else he keeps his mouth shut."

"I see."

"Listen, I'm calling to say, that I'll be trying something with him."

"Already?"

"Nothing dangerous, do not worry. He saw a game called Royal Road on the television and said he liked it. I told him he could play it."

"I don't think that was wise Gorge. I know the game, he's already out of touch with the real world, I think the game will make it even worse."

"I don't care about that at the moment Joshua. He refuses to talk in full sentences. We can't begin to understand what he has been through unless he tells us about it, and we can not force him too.

"So you want him to play the game so he has something to talk about?"

"Exactly. A common interest so to say. I'd like him to want to talk to me and the game might be just what we needed."

"I still think it's a bad idea, Gorge."

"It'll be fine. If worst comes worst, all we have to do is take the game away."

"Gorge, do you know what the game's about?"

"I do not."

"I thought as much, learn about it a little and call me after if you change your mind."

"Agreed."

"Later then."

"Goodbye."

Gorge did just that. He read all he could find about Royal Road up to the point where he fell asleep by the computer screen. The ringing of the phone woke him up.

"…"

It was his secretary. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost noon already. He straightened up and shook his head to wake up.

"Yes, Silia, I am listening."

"Very good."

"I know, I know, don't worry. I'll let them in."

"Already here? Why didn't you call earlier."

"Damn it, you should've tried harder."

He hung up in a hurry, he had to find Jon. They can't be allowed to see him. Even his secretary was clueless about his existence.

There were no sounds from down stairs so he ran to Jon's room, blasting the door open and stumbling into the room. Jon was there alright. But not where Gorge expected to find him.

Gorge was lying on the floor and Jon was sitting on top off him with a hand around his neck.

"It me."

Jon let go him and stood up. Gorge lay there shaking.

"People are coming to set up the game we talked about yesterday. I need you to stay in your room and be quiet. Do you understand Jon?"

"Yes." He was sitting in the corner of the room again.

Gorge got up, his whole body sore. He kept thinking how badly it could've all ended.

"You can sleep on the bed if like, Jon, you will get sick if you keep sleeping on the floor like that."

Jon just looked at him as if nothing had happened.

"I'll call you when they are gone." He left Jon and went to meet Silia and the workers on the beach.

"You don't look well," said Silia as they entered the house.

"I did not sleep very well."

"Sir, are you sure you want to play this game?"

"I do. I want to feel young again." He smiled to her casually.

"Sir, I'm worried about you. You decide to go on a vacation out of the blue like that and you don't even say when you'll be back. The board directors are worried, I'm worried. Did anything happen?"

"Nothing dear, things are better than ever. All I need is a good night's sleep."

"Are you doing okay? Are you sure you don't want me to hire a maid?"

"Dear, you are forgetting I myself have more experience as a maid. I've served the Doe family for 50 years. Whether as a butler or as the C.E.O is of little importance to me. I will continue to serve them until I am dead and no sooner."

"Sir…"

"That is enough, I have made my decision and it is your job to accommodate it."

"Very well sir." She straightened up and assumed a business attitude.

"Let me explain how to operate the capsule." She walked up to what looked like a large silver refrigerator and began talking.

"Jon, you can come down now." Gorge was sitting at the dining table waiting for Jon to join him for launch.

While Jon was eating, Gorge told him the games basics. He explained about leveling, skills stats, quests and professions. He intentionally didn't go into details. He wanted Jon to inquire for more information on his own in the hope hat Jon will come to him for help.

He showed Jon the capsule and repeated what Silia had told him earlier about operating it.

"Do you have anything you don't understand?" He asked, hoping for a reaction.

"No."

Jon got into the capsule and got comfortable. Before closing the lid Gorge decided to give Jon one last advice.

"When you level up, make sure you put all your stat points into Dexterity at first, it will make you faster. Your combat experience and fighting prowess will mean nothing if you can't hit your opponent. You can overcome the difference in strength with your knowledge of fighting and speed."

A small smile appeared on Jon's face and just as Gorge closed the lid he heard Jon's murmur: "Thank you".

He backed away from the capsule as that began to tilt backwards until it was horizontal to the floor. The sound of processors spinning filled the room and Gorge was left with nothing to do but wait.

"Might as well get some work done." He said to himself and left to the office.

"He's not here yet?" Said Si as he joined Vi at the town square.

"You're surprised? It's Ron we're talking about…" he stood up and greeted his friend.

"Ready?"

"Hah, I've been waiting a month for this day."

"I leveled up yesterday."

"Congratz, man."

"Yeah. I finished a quest for some merchant and my level rose to four."

"Nice, I'm still stuck at three. We mages waste too much time reading books in the mages guild; I hardly had any time for anything but that."

"You know, I was talking to Ron on the phone yesterday and he said he's already level six."

"Lucky bustard. How the fuck did he land a job at the blacksmith stand?"

"Here he comes, you can ask him yourself."

Ron was running towards them while waving something over his head.

"Look what I got."

"Wow," Si and Vi said at the same time.

Ron was holding a brand new Iron mace and he looked ecstatic.

"The blacksmith I worked for gave this to me as a present when I told him today I was going hunting outside the city walls for the first time."

"Damn, that's nice. Do you think he will give us something too?"

"Maybe, man, I'll ask him later."

"Let's go, guys; I can't wait to finally fight some monsters." Vi was shaking with excitement.

"Relax, man! Were too weak to fight anything cool, we'll probably be killing rabbits until were at least level ten!."

"Yeah! The best we can manage is a fox if we gang up on him, even that if we're lucky."

"Hey Ron I'm not like you, one spell and I can take down a wolf! You probably can't even swing that huge metal ball of yours."

"A wolf? In your dreams! You'll be lucky to kill a rabbit with how weak your noob spells. With this mace I can kill both you guys with one hit."

"Oh yeah? You wanna try swinging that thing at me, ah? Ah?."

"Relax guys, relax. None of us ever fought before, lets see how we deal with a rabbit and we'll see where we go from there." Si Spoke with the voice of reason.

"Ok, men, yeah, let's get going."

"Wait!" Ron suddenly spoke quietly," You wanna know if I can swing, I'll show you. You see that newbie over there?"

They turned to the direction Ron was looking at.

"Yeah what about him?"

"I'm going to scare him a little."

"Don't, man, what if he fights back?"

"Don't worry, man, I'm not gonna kill him or anything, I'm just gonna scare him a little. You know, give him a friendly welcome into the game. And if he fights, what of it? I'm level six and the guy just logged in for the first time." A smirk appeared on Ron's face.

"I don't like it, Ron, we better just go hunting like we planned." Si tried to calm things down again.

"Relax, Si, look at the way he's moving. We did the same on our first time, remember Ron? Man, that weird feeling of not knowing if what you're seeing and feeling is real or fake. Do it Ron, he won't touch you even if he tried."

"Yeah." He started walking slowly, trying to get as close as possible without his target noticing.

"We've got your back don't worry."

"This is going to end badly, I just know it."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – A Helpful Merchant**

"Hello," a pleasant female voice said.

Jon was staring into total darkness. He tried to move and discovered he was floating. Even though his body was immobilized in the capsule, he could move freely in the encircling darkness.

"Hello." The voice said again. It seemed to come from all directions at once.

"Hello," he answered.

"Welcome to Royal Road. Your body is being scanned at the moment; in the meantime, please, choose a nickname."

"Jon."

"Very good. Jon, what race do you want to play as?"

"Me."

"Very good. Jon, human. Do you want to make changes to you appearance?"

"No."

"Very good. Please choose a place to start playing." A list of names appeared, floating in the darkness.

-'Gorge said to start in Rosenheim.'-

He found the name Rosenheim Citadel near the bottom of the list and picked it.

"Very good. The scan will be finished in a moment. Please wait."

Jon floated for a while in the darkness. He felt at home in it.

"Scan complete. The game will start now. I hope you will enjoy playing, good luck."

The darkness faded into a blinding light.

Jon closed his eyes against the bright light. Sounds of people talking surrounded him. Opening his eyes he saw a market, busy with people walking about. He couldn't believe it. In his mind he was still in the capsule but his eyes were telling him otherwise.

He lifted his arms and shook his legs.

-'Just like my real body'- he thought

He tried making a step. It went okay, so he tried to jump. That worked fine as well.

-'It even smells real.'-

He looked around, Gorge explained to him about Npcs (Non-Player-Characters) but it was impossible to tell the difference. Everyone he looked at looked like a real person. They all went about their business around him, trading and talking.

-'That guy might be an Npc.'-

In the whole crowd only one person stood out. He was walking strangely slowly, looking at the opposite direction of which he was going.

Jon ignored him. He was busy trying out the interface commands. One by one he checked different menus. From his inventory that contained only a handful of rye bread to his skill menu which was empty, he checked them all. To him the menus looked like floating, transparent pages. The menus were only visible to Jon, so from the side he looked like a crazy person, pressing and flipping the air.

A man who walked by him gave him a disgusted look and when Jon turned around to look at him, his eyes met the eyes of the person who he thought was an Npc.

Only this Npc raised an iron club over his head and was preparing to swing it down at Jon.

Without a second thought Jon moved forward closing the small distance between him and the attacker in one step. His foot stepped on the attacker's foot and he pressed down hard while simultaneously pushing him backwards.

The weight of the iron club raised high in the air together with a small push made him lose his balance and he fell on his back, letting go of the club to cushion the fall with his hands. Jon caught the club in the air and dropped it hard on the man. The heavy club connected with the throat of the man who was now lying on his back and crushed it completely.

**Critical Hit**

A window popped up in front of Jon's eyes and disappeared after a second. The man under his feet turned grey and disappeared as well, only his club was left, held firmly by Jon.

**Level Up**

**Level Up**

**You have killed a player!**

**Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)**

**A red mark has appeared on your forehead, it will disappear in 6 hours.**

It was over in a flash.

"He killed him" A voice screamed close by. Jon ignored it.

He raised a hand to touch his forehead and sure enough there was something that felt like a small gem stuck right in the middle.

-'Stats menu'- He spoke the command in his mind and the menu materialized in front of him.

"Fucker killed Ron!" a different voice this time.

-'What did Gorge say I should raise when I level up?'-

"Si, let's get him!." The first voice said.

-'Right, raise the dexterity.'- Jon put the ten status points he got from reaching level three into the Dexterity status.

"Si, distract him while I cast a spell." "Now! Go! What are you waiting for?"

Jon looked at the direction the voice was coming from. His dexterity stat was now at twenty, ten points higher than the stat of the man running at him with a drawn sword. Not a lot but more than enough.

Jon spun on one foot to avoid the sword that passed near his right shoulder. Not waiting for the spin to finish, he used the spin momentum to raise the iron club fast towards the opponent's chin.

The club hit dead center.

It broke the chin and kept going upwards; squishing the head out of the openings in the helmet replacing with an iron ball what was once a face.

**Critical Hit**

**Level Up**

**You have killed a player!**

**Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)**

**The red mark will disappear in 12 hours.**

Jon ignored the screens that pooped up in his field of vision and sprinted to the one casting the spell. He let go of the club and was in front of the caster while it was still falling through the air , the helmet still attached to the ball at the end.

By the time the club hit the ground with a metallic tinge, Jon's fingers were resting comfortably inside the caster's eye sockets.

**Critical Hit**

-'I wonder why he didn't count as a kill?'-

Both men turned grey and disappeared. A book fell on the ground beside Jon's legs. He picked up the book forgetting about the club and the helmet still lying a couple of steps away.

"You! Stop right there." A guard wearing full body metal armor arrived at the scene yelling..

"Put your hands out so I can tie them, come on."

"Wait." A man moved Jon's hands out of the way, "I saw everything. They attacked him first."

"Did they?"

"Ask anyone you want!" He waved his hands at the crowd that gathered around them.

It took some more persuading, but in the end the guard backed of but didn't go away. He kept eyeing Jon, giving him bad stares.

Jon's fame was negative sixty. While that meant nothing to human players, Npc's like the guard would think Jon was a criminal.

"Get out of here both of you, I don't need any more trouble from him."

"Yes, sir. We shall run along now." The man bowed to the guard and pushed Jon to go away.

"Are you crazy? Killing people in the middle of the street? Do you want to spend your first month playing in jail?" he kept looking behind him to see if there was anyone following them.

"You're lucky my speech-craft skill is level 3, or else you'd be behind bars now."

They turned into a side street leaving the crowd behind them.

"Name's Mapan. Merchant Mapan!" He extended his hand forward.

"…" Jon just looked at it.

"Ahh, you got me." He laughed after a few seconds of silence. "I'm no merchant. Not yet anyway. But you wait and see I'll become the greatest merchant in Royal Road."

"…"

"I just need to finish the profession change quest. They want me to get three hundred rabbit skins. Three hundred!" He started getting angry. "Do you have any idea how hard that is? And the fuckers tell me to do it in three days!"

He tried to calm himself down.

"So…" his demeanor suddenly changed, "did those guys happen to drop any rabbit skins after being slain by the mighty, you?" a fake smile covered his face.

-'So that's why he helped me.'-

Jon lifted the book he picked from the ground.

"Oh, what's this?" Mapan snatched the book and started flipping through it.

"Hmm, "Fundamentals of magic", not bad not bad, might be worth a gold coin or two to the right person. Great condition, almost new… wait, what's this? Worthless" He threw the book back to Jon.

"That's a library book, he must have stolen it. I was wondering why a newbie dropped a book like that."

"So no rabbit skins?"

"No."

"Damn." He said suddenly. "Freaking waste of time. That's what I get for helping others."

"At least I got some Exp for my speech-craft skill." He murmured as he joined the mass of people in the main street.

Jon was looking at him until he disappeared from his sight. He stood there waiting, not knowing what to do.

The sound of someone's yelling reached his ears, something about buying rabbit skins for 30 coppers each. Jon was still standing at the same place Mapan left him. He didn't know what to do now. After putting the five stat points he got from reaching level four into the dexterity stat he thought about what to do next but nothing came to mind.

-'I want to fight monsters, but Gorge said I can't go out of the city for my first month in game time.'-

He was bored, and with nothing better to do, he simply sat down in the ally with his back to the wall and started reading the book he picked up.

As the sun got closer to the horizon, the light that reached him between the building walls slowly grew smaller. Jon kept moving closer and closer to the ally's entrance, following the disappearing light. It was no small book, filled with pages of difficult magic formulas and hard to pronounce spells Jon understood he would have to find a place with enough light if he wanted to keep reading at night.

But he was in no hurry, although hard the book interested him and there were still a couple of hours before the sun disappeared completely. So he kept reading.

"Hello" a kid approached Jon.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" A girl said, and approached him as well.

Jon ignored them both.

"Honorable sir, I and my friend are adventurers and we will gladly help you with anything you need."

The two of them waited for a response.

"Come on, he's not gonna give us any quests." The girl whispered to the boy.

"Wait a sec. I'm telling you he must be an Npc related to some secret quest."

"Sir," he cleared his throat and stepped closer to Jon "I also enjoy reading. May I ask what book it is you're reading?"

-'They don't intend to leave me do they they?'- He flipped a page. –'Need to find someplace quiet'-

He stood up and closed the book.

"See, I told you he wan an Npc!" the boy smiled.

"Library." Jon said.

"What?"

"Library." Jon turned pointing at the book.

Terror grasped the kid's face. The boy gave one look at the red gem on Jon's forehead and ran away screaming "Player killer!" at the top of his lungs.

Jon moved to the girl still pointing at the book.

"Library?"

The little girl started crying. A guard passing by heard it and interfered.

"What's going on here?"

Jon turned to the guard, the girl kept crying behind him.

"You, what have you done to the girl?" the guard reached for his sword.

"Where is the library?" he said and pointed at the book he was holding.

The guard eyed Jon suspiciously, his hand still holding a handle of his sword.

With directions and a warning from the guard, Jon found a library not far from the town square where he first logged into the game. The sun was starting to set, covering everything with a dim orange light. A large old library building, illuminated by the setting sun, appeared magical. Jon entered through a huge wooden double door. The air was cooler inside.

The parts visible in the candle light were rows and rows of bookshelves. The sound of his steps in a huge room, echoed in the silence.

He approached a bookkeeper's desk. An old man, with a long, flowing, gray beard sat beside a book as big as Jon's.

"What do you want?" he asked with a sharp voice when he noticed Jon. "This is not a place for trouble makers like yourself!" Jon's negative fame changed the attitude of the usually pleasant Npc.

Jon took out his book and handed it to the bookkeeper.

"What's this?" he put the glasses hanging from his neck on his nose. "This book was stolen! Where did you get this?" he eyed Jon curiously.

"Found it."

"Yes, but where did you find it?"

"…"

"Not saying, fine. Are you returning it then?"

"…"

The bookkeeper stared at Jon intensively, waiting for him to speak.

"…"

"You're a man of few words; I like that in a man." The bookkeeper's eyes softened. "You don't have to tell me where you found it, but thank you for returning it nonetheless."

**Fame Rises By 5 (+5 Fame)**

**Relationship With Library Bookkeeper Increased**

"Is there something you'd like in return?"

Jon looked at the book in the mans hand. The bookkeeper noticed a bookmark stuck in it and smiled.

"You want this book back?"

"Yes."

"Can't do that. Books are not allowed to leave the library."

"…"

"If you still wish to read it, follow me." The bookkeeper took something out of a drawer and walked into the sea of bookshelves. The sun had set and the darkness took over the library. Jon followed closely.

They stopped in an open space. A dozen or so candles were lit, near every candle a person reading a book was visible.

"Here," the bookkeeper handed a lit cantle to Jon which he took.

"Sit wherever you like, there's more than enough room."

Jon took the book and two spare candles and sat down at one of the far tables, hidden from the rest of the people in the room by a large stack of books.

He placed the candle into a candle holder, opened the book where he last stopped and continued reading.

When the last candle was almost burnt out Jon looked up from the book for the first time. The first rays of sunshine were starting to come through the large glass windows near a high ceiling.

He was hungry and even though he had almost finished the book it was becoming hard to concentrate. He took out rye bread from his inventory and filled a glass with water from a jug in the middle of the table.

-'I want to do magic.'-

He thought about what he had read, then picked and tried to chant the simplest spell in the book. Nothing happened. He tried a few more times. No result.

-'Too bad'-

He finished eating, there was enough light now to read the letters even without a candle. He wondered how come he wasn't tired even though he had just spent the whole night awake.

-That's right. Gorge said time moved faster in the game. I've been playing for about twelve hours, so that's… hmm… three hours in real life. Need to log out for dinner soon.'-

-'I'll finish the book first'- he thought and went back to reading.

**New Skill Acquired: Magic Mastery**

**The basis of all magic, Magic Mastery gives a player control over his Magic Power.**

**The higher your mastery of control is, the stronger the magic that you perform is.**

**The higher the skill level is the faster you can cast spells.**

**Warning: ****Casting high level magic with a low level of Magic Mastery is dangerous and may result in death.**

**You Have Completed The Book: "Fundamentals Of Magic"**

**Wisdom Rises By 2 (+2 Wis) **

He opened the skill menu, and sure enough there it was; Basic Magic Mastery: Level 1/ 0%.

-'Maybe now.'-

He chose a spell the book said was perfect for beginners, opened his palm as if holding a ball, and began chanting. As soon as he began the chant a weak bluish glow appeared around his hand and his Mp (Mana points) started dropping. When twenty out of his one hundred magic points disappeared, the light enveloping his palm collected itself into the shape of a ball.

The ball was the size of a large marble, glowing in a bright blue color and floating around his palm, almost grazing the skin but never touching it.

-'Whoah…'- he was awestruck. His mind went blank as he stared at a small wonder in his hand.

It didn't last long though, soon the blue ball of light started shaking violently. This snapped Jon back from his trance.

He concentrated hard trying to steady the ball again, afraid to lose it. He managed somewhat, it was still moving around more than at first but not so violently. His concentration wavered and the ball fell apart, falling on his palm like sand and disappearing into nothingness.

-'If only I had this in the cage.'-

The skill window he forgot to close, now showed Basic Magic Mastery: Level 1/ 6%. He closed it so it wouldn't distract him and cast the spell again.

Like the first time, the spell started shaking and when he got it under control again he decided to try another thing the book mentioned. He chanted one more line and saw his Mp start to go down again. The less Mp he had left the bigger the ball became. As it reached the size of a tennis ball he hardly had any mana left to spare.

He kept infusing the spell with his magic, mesmerized by the dancing light. The blue Mp bar in his peripheral vision started blinking red and soon disappeared completely. Jon thought it was over however he was not satisfied!

He wanted the light to shine brighter, he wanted it to cover him in its blue glow.

-'Brighter'-

The ball floated in his hand, barely even moving.

-'Brighter'-

The glow became brighter.

-'BRIGHTER!'- He felt a sudden pull forward, it was small and hardly noticeable yet he felt as if the ball were sucking him in.

Something was moving inside the ball, it looked like smoke but it was red. It swirled inside the ball, growing bigger, slowly giving the blue color a purple hue. The light it gave off became stronger and Jon liked it.

He concentrated, trying to make the color change completely to purple. He was so engrossed in the light, he didn't notice how pale the skin of his arm became. The stronger the purple hue became the whiter Jon grew. Commanded by Jon to grow brighter and with no more Mp to use, the spell tapped into Jon's life for nourishment.

The red health bar was vanishing fast. A little longer and Jon would die.

The spell broke suddenly. The ball fell apart like sand, leaving an afterimage of itself still floating in the air. Jon was still alive; his Hp bar was barely visible and saw that now.

His survival instinct kicked in, it had saved his life dozens of time in the death matches and Jon learned to rely on it unconditionally.

-'Thank you.'- it saved him again.

He sat down, dizzy and sick. The Hp and Mp bar filled out slowly as time passed.

-'Again.'- he wanted to see the purple light again.

He got used to being on the verge of death in the years he had spent in the "pit". Many did the same thing that almost killed him. Most of them didn't stop in time killing themselves and vowing not to do something so stupid again, and amongst those who stopped in time none tried it again.

Players who played as mages were usually weak and cowardly by nature. They chose the Mage profession to avoid direct combat, staying on the sidelines casting their spells for a safe distance, afraid of getting hurt, more often than not, protected by warriors.

Contrary to them, Jon felt alive only on the verge of death. The purple light called to him and he intended to follow it.

Thinking things through, he stood up and began searching for the bookkeeper. He found him and returned the book to him.

"More."

The bookkeeper looked at Jon knowingly.

"You've discovered your magic power, haven't you?"

"…"

"I can see it in you, like in so many others before you." He smiled, yet his eyes looked sad. "I'll tell you what I have told the rest of them. There aren't any spell books here, if you want to learn how to cast spell go to the Mages guild! I won't tolerate people playing with magic in my library!" he said and pointed at the huge book Jon saw when he first came in.

"Once was more than enough!

Jon noticed the burn marks on it now.

"No spells." He repeated after the bookkeeper.

"Then what is it that you want?"

"Magic books."

"Like I said, all magic books are kept in the Mage guild. You should go there it's not far away. I'll even draw you a map. I've gotten good at it with all aspiring mages leaving there once I tell you there are no spells to be learnt here." He took out a piece of paper and began searching for ink, digging through the mass on his desk.

"No." Jon stopped the bookkeeper. "Mage books."

"Mage books? You mean books about magicians?"

"I've got the perfect thing for you!" he looked excited. "Follow me."

"This is such a rare moment. It's been years since someone read them." He was racing through the bookshelves, the end of his robe stretching behind him like a tail. Jon had to walk carefully so as not to step on it.

"Here they are." He pointed at the shelf covered with a thick layer of dust. "There are a lot of them, but they are just what you need if you want to learn about mages."

Jon looked at the books. There were twenty of them and they all looked identical.

"Volumes one through twenty. The only place you can find the complete set is here. You can't find them all even if you search the whole Royal library. And the Mages guild only has the last one, what a joke!" He was full of energy, waving his hands at the volume he mentioned.

"How do you like them?" He spoke to Jon, not taking his eyes of the books.

Jon took out the first volume. It wasn't big but it was much heavier than it looked. Embrowned on the leather cover with golden thread was the title "Mages through the Ages", under it in smaller, silver letters was written "Volume One."

"No author." The bookkeeper said.

"No one knows who wrote the books. Every hundred years or so a book was discovered, there is no record of them, ever. They simply appear out of nowhere. No merchant ever remembers where he got it; they all say it simply appeared in their shop one day. And adventurers who find them never remember picking them up." He was smiling happily. "Historians consider it as great mystery, and many have dedicated their lives to find out the author."

Jon returned to his sitting place. The old bookkeeper stayed back to remove the dust that piled up on the rest of the volumes.

-'Purple magic.'- he was looking for a mention of a mage who used it, and this was a good place to start…

"Here you go." The bookkeeper handed Jon a steaming cup.

"…"

"Drink it. It's my own recipe, it will help you concentrate."

Jon took the small cup carefully. It was filled to the brim with black, tar like liquid. The cup was so small, that there was hardly enough for a mouth full. He downed it in one sip.

It took him by surprise. Even though there was steam coming from the liquid and the cup was hot to the touch, as the liquid made its way to his stomach he felt cold spreading through his body. Goosebumps appeared on his skin and the hair on his arms stood up.

The cold disappeared as suddenly as it arrived.

**You drank "Scholars Brew"**

**You feel reenergized. **

**Your reading speed is doubled.**

**Affect last for 5 hours.**

"Refreshing isn't it?" The bookkeeper laughed, "You, get used to it."

"If you want more, there's always a jug at my table. Take as much as you want, there's no need to ask," he said and went to the next person, already with a full cup in his hand.

-'I'm surprised he doesn't spill it,'- he thought and continued reading.

He was getting close to the half-way point of the book when a big red letters flashed in his face.

_**REAL LIFE INTERFERENCE! PLEASE LOG OUT IMMIDIATELY!**_

-'Must be Gorge.'-

He uttered the command in his mind and darkness filled his vision.

Once the sound of the spinning processors stopped the capsule moved into a standing position and the lid opened.

"Did you forget about dinner?" Gorge asked, not even waiting for the lid to open completely.

"Come on, the food is getting cold." He turned around and left.

Jon followed him and sat at the table.

"Enjoy." Gorge was smiling again.

He waited for Jon to finish eating before satisfying his curiosity.

"Did you like it?" No use for roundabout questions Gorge figured, better ask him straight.

Jon swallowed the last bite and looked up at Gorge.

"Yes."

"Anything specific?"

"Purple light."

"Purple? Where did it come from?"

"Magic."

Gorge laughed, "Magic you say? And you got to use it?"

"Yes."

"So you're going to be a magician then?"

"No." he said after a moment of thought.

"That is good. I do not think being a magician would suit you."

"A berserker suits you better from what Joshua tells me." He took the risk, trying to make a joke.

"…" Jon just looked at Gorge without as much as blinking.

"Never mind that, just kidding."

-'Too soon.'- Gorge thought.

"You know, Jon, I have been reading up on Royal Road, I can help you. All you need to do is ask."

-'He might know.'- He wanted to see the purple light again, maybe Gorge can help.

"Purple magic."

"Yes, I heard."

"Purple magic!"

"You want me to find out about purple magic?" he looked hopefully at Jon.

"Yes."

"That is great. I'll make sure I find something by breakfast. I will go start while you take a shower." He stood up, "You do not want the capsule to smell of sweat, do you?"

"Used to it."

This caught Gorge off guard.

"Listen to me, Jon, I do not know what you have been through," he leaned close to Jon's face, "and I pray one day you will tell me about it. But until you do I will treat you no different than when you were a boy and I was your nanny. So you better listen and behave or just like then I will punish you."

Jon didn't show the slightest bit of response.

"I may not be able to spank you now, but if you do not start to act like the grown up that you are I will have the capsule sent back. Understood?"

"…"

"The only reason I asked for it was because I believe it will make you want to talk to me. Joshua said it was a bad idea so if I see that instead of opening you up to me it does the opposite, I will get rid of it." He was breathing heavily.

"Are we clear?"

"Yes."

"And you better start talking in complete sentences, boy, or it will be sooner rather than later."

"I understand."

"That's better. Now go clean up."

Jon stood up and left the room.

"Come see me when you are done," he yelled after him, "and make sure to use the scrub."

-'At least his mind isn't gone.'- He thought as he booted up a holographic display.

-'If he can think like a normal person all I need to do is make him talk until he's so used to it that he does it on his own.'-

-'I'd hate to do it, but I can always threaten him with the game. Just need to make sure he wants to keep playing it.'-

"Call Silia." he said to the screen.

"Yes, sir." Her face appeared on it.

"I need you to find out about purple magic."

"I understand Sir wasted no time with the game." She looked annoyed. "I'll update you as soon as I find something. Anything else I can do for you?"

"Relax." Gorge smiled tenderly. Silia has been his secretary for the past five years, and worked for Jon's father for many years before that. He cared for her as if she were his own daughter.

"The moment you come back to your senses." And Silia treated Gorge as if he actually were her father. "Sir."

"There is nothing to worry about, dear; it will all make sense to you soon."

She smiled, but her eyes still showed how worried she really was.

"Connect me to Joshua, please. I will have more time than I thought I would these upcoming days and I wish to tell him that personally."

Silia looked like she wanted to ask something but did what she was told instead.

"How are you doing, Gorge?" 's face replaced Silia's.

"Better than I could imagine. Much better in fact."

"I take it your plan worked then?"

"Indeed it did, my dear friend. I told him that if he wanted to keep playing he needed to start talking."

Joshua looked confused.

"There is nothing wrong with him, Joshua, not with his mind, at least. I believe he thinks just like you and me, even better and faster then both of us if there is anything left of the boy I had known in him." He sighed. "I think that all he need is to get used to talking again. Wherever he spent these five years at, it is clear talking was not very important there."

"Continue."

"He understands everything I tell him but he just does not deem it necessary to respond with words. He expresses himself with actions and only when he can't, does he use words. What I hope to achieve with the game is make it hard for him not to talk."

"You said so yesterday, Gorge."

"Yes, but what I didn't say was that it already works. He asked me to find out about purple magic."

"He asked you to do what?"

"Not exactly asked, but he seems interested in purple magic and agreed to accept my help."

"…"

"It is a start, Joshua. I believe this can work!"

"Have it your way, Gorge, you know him better than anyone." A phone ring came from 's side. "Just in case I have a professional ready to take a look at him. I need to go Gorge, be sure to keep me posted."

"Good night, Joshua."

"Good, you are done and I can tell by the smell you were thorough."

"…"

"Do you want to talk about something?" He tried just in case.

"Maybe watch T.V? We can watch the show you liked, the one about Royal Road."

"No." He seemed to struggle with something.

"I want to play."

Gorge laughed.

"I imagined you would. I don't suppose you intend to sleep, do you?"

"No"

"Well, you can sleep inside the game today. It is your first day after all."

"Let's go, I will help you get in."

The capsule, gel like interior hugged Jon's body, it felt like it was trying to swallow him.

"Listen, I haven't found anything about purple magic so far, I will need some time for that. However from what I have read, even the most basic of spells requires the second level of basic Magic Mastery. Make sure you get that. Purple magic will come later."

"Thank you," Jon said as the lid began to close, just like last time.

"My pleasure." Gorge was smiling, "Have fun."

The lid closed and moved to a horizontal position to the floor.

The sound of spinning processors filled the room once again.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- New Players With New Rumors**

**Magic Mastery levels up to 3**

**Focus Stat Added**

**This stops a player from being distracted with whatever an action he is performing.**

**The higher the stat the more effectively an action can be performed, even allowing more than one action to be performed at the same time successfully.**

**High focus lowers chances of spells backfiring and casting failure**.

**The stat will increase by itself when an action is completed well under difficult conditions or when a player performs actions demanding high concentration.**

**You Have Completed the Book: "Mages through the Ages, vol 16"**

**Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)**

It was morning, the third day since he began playing. Twelve days passed in game time.

Thanks to the "Scholar's Brew" that Unknownadd, the library bookkeeper, gave Jon, he was able to go through the books at an incredibly fast pace.

And since all Jon did during the past eleven days was reading and practicing his magic he was now one step closer to the purple magic he so longed for.

Gorge found what he was looking for and Jon now knew what that magic was and the requirement for it. The information came with a warning though.

Gorge urged him to stay as far away as possible from those who use it.

Apparently purple magic was a taboo in Royal Road and mage guilds banned it completely.

Jon didn't care for it, but to reassure Gorge, he agreed to run away if he ever saw someone use purple magic.

That didn't mean Jon wasn't going to use purple magic himself though. Now that he knew what he needed to do, he wasted no time.

In the sixteen volumes he had already read through, purple magic had been mentioned only once and only in passing.

In the third volume an evil mage by the name of Bar-Khan was said to have used purple magic. All it said was that the heroic mage and his brave knights defeated Bar-Khan and the horrible purple colored magic, thus saving the kingdom from destruction.

Jon doubted he would find any other mention of it in the books, but that was no longer why he read the books.

He needed to practice his magic and he needed something to do while he waited for his mana to return.

He could now keep the ball of mana safe for almost a minute. He was also able to float it around his hand, weaving patters of blue light through his fingers.

Volume seventeen was opened before him but this time he wasn't waiting for the mana bar to replenish. He was waiting for one of the other players to go into the sea of bookshelves. Thanks to his newly leveled up Magic Mastery skill, a small blue marble of light was floating over the pages. The black ink of the letters reflected the light, covering Jon's face with a pattern of blue colored dots.

A chair scraped the floor as the player who sat on it got up.

Jon's eyes followed him immediately and he saw him disappear behind the bookshelves heading into the deep of the library.

He broke off the magic he had been maintaining for the past ten minutes, closed the book and stood up.

He followed the player. There weren't many people in the library and those who were there, kept to themselves.

The one he was looking for was busy searching for a book; he was short and very thin.

-'Most likely an aspiring mage earning easy int stats.'-

Jon walked up to the boy from behind, silently.

**You have killed a player!**

**Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)**

**A red mark has appeared on your forehead, it will disappear in 6 hours.**

Jon was back in his seat reading, as if he had never even left.

The ball of light was the only thing that suggested something had happened. It was in the air once again but not over the books pages.

It now floated close to Jon's forehead, behind it was hidden the red mark he had just earned.

-'Twenty three more to go.'- he thought and waited for another player to get up.

Jon's fame was now at negative fifty five. He needed negative five-hundred, which meant he either burnt Serabourg Citadel or something crazy as that, or simply killed twenty-three more players.

Jon stood up and followed another player to the shadows of the books, a minute later he was back in his seat reading.

-'Twenty two.'- Jon was enjoying himself for the first time, in a very long time. No longer was he bored.

-'Twenty one.'-

-'Twenty.'-

-'Nineteen.'-

All of them silent kills. Fast and precise, the victim had never even seen his face.

The fifth person to die in the library never knew what happened as well. One moment he was looking for a book, and the next he was staring at the interior of his own capsule. It was so sudden he thought the game disconnected, so he tried to log back in again, only the game wouldn't allow him.

A pleasant female voice said: "You have died. You can log back into the game in 24 four hours."

**You have killed a player!**

**Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)**

**A red mark has appeared on your forehead, it will disappear in 21 hours.**

**Level Up**

**Profession Change Notice**

**You can change you profession to an Assassin.**

**Yes?****No?**

-'Yes.'- Jon didn't care what his profession was.

**You have changed you profession to an Assassin.**

**The killer of the night, the assassin feels at home in the shadows.**

**He moves swiftly and silently, killing his target unseen and undetected.**

**The assassin specializes in the element of surprise and will avoid open battle.**

**The assassin profession grants a bonus to dexterity and luck.**

**+30 Dexterity**

**+15 Luck**

**Sneak Mastery acquired**

**Helps a player hide his presence and blend into the surroundings.**

**The grandmaster sneak is even able to hide himself in plain sight.**

**Level 1 effect: You are 5% harder to detect.**

**Surprise Attack Skill learned.**

**This skill can only be used if the target is unaware of your presence. **

**The skill works with weapons, magic and hand to hand combat.**

**Level 1: Deal 10% more damage.**

**Cost: 50 Mp **

Not interested, Jon skipped through the windows pooping up in front of him reading only the headlines.

-'Surprise attack?'- He opened his skill menu. –'Useful.'-.

He picked up a silver coin that fell from his kill, distributed the stat points to dexterity and went back to reading.

**Stat Window**

**Avatar: Jon Type: Evil**

**Level: 5 Class: Assassin**

**Title: None Fame: -135**

**Life: 280 Mana: 150 **

**Strength: 10 Dexterity: 65 Vitality: 10**

**Wisdom: 28 Intelligence: 10 Focus: 4**

**Leadership: 0 Luck: 15 **

**Offence: 3 Defense: 0**

**Resistance to magic: None**

The sun went down and the only three people stayed in it.

Unknowadd was busy taking care of an old book at his table so Jon was alone with the third person.

He was sitting at his usual spot. Hidden behind a slowly growing pile of books Jon could see the whole reading area without being noticed.  
He no longer used a candle but a magic orb instead. The other person could only see a faint blue radiance shining through the wall of books surrounding Jon.

The woman lit by candle light was reading a book thick enough to be mistaken for a small stool.

Jon had been waiting for this moment. The last person left a while ago and it was unlikely he would come back. The two of them were alone and Jon wasted no more time.

He slipped into the darkness and made his way through the maze of bookshelves. He used the light of her candle as a landmark and was soon standing behind her. He kept himself out of the candle light, waiting to see if she would notice.

She didn't.

The blue ball of light was still floating where he left it.

He walked up to her. Looking over her shoulder he read the first couple of sentences. It was in a different language so he understood nothing.

He lifted the seventeenth volume he was reading during the whole day and got into position.

-'Surprise Attack'- He invoked the skill for the first time. Fifty Mp points disappeared.

The moment the skill was triggered, the blue light disappeared.

The woman looked up, noticing a sudden change.

This worked to Jon's advantage, distracting her from the sound of the book slashing the air.

The edge of the book connected with the back of her neck, breaking it with a loud snap.

**Critical Hit**

**Focus Rises by 1 (+1 Fos)**

He waited for her to turn gray and disappear just like the others, but she didn't.

Instead of disappearing, her body slowly slid of the chair to the floor. It fell with a thud.

-'Npc…'- Jon was unfazed. It mattered not to him who she was.

He summoned the blue ball and made his way back to his seat.

The woman's body left to lie there, nothing more than a waste of time to him.

**You Have Completed A Book: "Mages through the Ages, vol 17"**

**Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)**

Morning arrived people started to appear again. There were half a dozen of them at the moment the body was discovered.

Jon was watching through the cracks in his wall of books. He knew it had been discovered much earlier.

The second person to arrive noticed her on the floor. He said nothing and after looking around to see if anyone was watching him he stripped her of her possessions. Taking even the dress she was wearing.

He was clearly a player. Jon saw how he put the things inside his inventory. The only thing he left outside was the ring she was wearing; now resting comfortably on his finger.

He left the library immediately after. Whatever it was he came for, was no longer important.

Word of the body traveled and soon the library was full of curious players and Npcs alike.

Jon left the crowd inside to join the one outside.

**You have stolen three books!**

**Fame decreased by 3. (-3 Fame)**

He was almost out of rye-bread and he needed to stock up on some food.

He was walking to the market and he noticed people were staring at him. Not just Npcs but players as well.

The red mark on his forehead was attracting attention, while his negative fame put Npcs on their guard.

Thankfully the guard left him alone for now, however their gaze never left him.

He entered a grocery store and was kicked out by the merchant.

"I need no PKer's money!" he yelled.

He went to the market stalls this time, searching for an Npc to buy from.

This too was fruitless. His negative fame made Npc merchants raise their prices so high he could hardly buy even a load of bread.

Jon opened the map menu and looked at the citadels layout.

After a short walk his was at his destination, no one bothered to look at him here.

He was walking around in the slums of the city. This place wasn't clean and shiny like the areas around the market square.

Players avoided these parts of the citadel unless a quest took them here.

The houses were run down, the streets covered with filth and the people dirty. The majority were crippled old men and the few kids that were running about had a at least one hand missing. Punishment for getting caught stealing.

Women were nowhere to be seen.

Jon grabbed a passing kid and jingled some coins before him.

The sound of coins made the whole street freeze up.

"Food." he said.

Jealous gazes penetrated Jon from all direction. Tiny cracks appeared in doors and windows, the residents eyed Jon from inside.

"After me, sir." The kid spoke quickly, grabbing and pulling him after him.

The boy took him, following the border of the slums.

They stopped suddenly and the boy extended his good hand.

Jon put a copper coin in it.

"These after." He held up two more coppers.

The boy went on.

As they got to where the main street, the one that cut through the Citadel in half, passed into the slums Jon saw a crowd of people.

More an more people were flooding, coming out of numerous alleys. They walked up and joined what turned out to be a line of people.

"You better hurry, before it runs out." The boy said and locked his way.

Jon gave him the coins and the boy ran away.

Jon took his place in the line and waited for his turn.

"The hell man? Why didn't you bring him here?" a big tanned kid said as the boy who escorted Jon a moment ago came close.

"That guy's crazy." He looked back at Jon.

"Wha?" three more kids spoke at the same time.

"Yeah, I thought he was easy pray at first too. But not anymore…"

"What did he do man?" the tanned kid asked.

"Remember the black clothed man we tried to jump?"

"Don't you dare bring him up!" the one who acted like the leader got up and grabbed him by the throat.

"Let go! Let go man!"

"Sorry…"

"Don't be. He killed my brother as well. Or did you forget that the other ten we buried were my friends as well?"

The five boys looked at the floor in silence.

"You see him?" He pointed at Jon. "This guy felt even more dangerous than the one we swore to kill."

The other four stared wide eyed at Jon.

"That's crazy man!"

"Hey maybe Yarel will get him?"

"That bitch? No chance."

"Yeah all she ever does is look down at us."

"Fucking slut. Thinks coz she has all that money she's better than us."

"I'd kill her in a second if she wasn't useful. Brings us food, trying to be all saint and shit."

"I heard she's only doing this to look good in front of the church."

"We should get her too one day, her armor must be worth a fortune."

"Whatever, guys. Let's get something to eat" He lifted the coins he got."

"You bastard. Give me those."

"Take it if you can," he said already sprinting away."

"Get him." They chased after him laughing.

Jon stood in line waited to get a share of food.

While waiting he summoned the ball of light again. In the strong afternoon sun, the faint blue light it radiated was unnoticeable. He was spinning it around his finger and moving it from one hand to the other.

This has already become second nature to him. With his magic mastery almost at level four, controlling this spell, intended for aspiring mages as a means of learning to control their MP has become nothing more than a habit. Nonetheless, even though it wasn't his intention the use of magic still trained his magic mastery skill.

**Intelligence Rises by 1 (+1 Int)**

More than that, the constant use of magic also raised his Int stat.

Although it was getting harder to raise it like that. This time it took twenty four hours for it to increase. Last time it was eighteen and only fifteen the time before that.

He was getting closer. He finally saw who was giving the food away.

He knew she was female from the voice he heard but now he could see she was wearing the most outrageously exaggerated armor possible.

Things dangled from it, stuff poked out of it and all of the pointless additions made to it made it twice as big as it needed to be.

The fleshy sword at her him seemed pale in comparison to the decorative shield she had slung on her back.

A huge helm covered her head, holding her blond hair in place.

She looked out of place in the gray slum with all her shiny gear.

"Here, take this. It was very expensive." She said with a condescending tone and a fake smile plastered on her face.

The line moved and it was Jon's turn.

"Here, for you si…" her eyes wandered to Jon's face noticing the red mark stuck in the middle of it.

"A player?" She smiled for real now. "How can you be so worthless that you need to bag for food when you're a player?" The smile was now a smirk.

"A PKer begging for food. You're luck I'm such a good person."

"…"

"Take this." She handed him an expensive looking pastry which Jon took quietly.

"I would never it something so simple, but for a player who kills others it should be enough." She said to his back.

"Hypocrite." Jon uttered.

"What did you say?" her voice rose. "Say that again to my face, coward."

"Hypocrite." Jon said without a moments delay.

"Me? A hypocrite? Does PKing make one stupid?"

"I, who is so busy with quests from the church of Freya, take the time to feed the Citadel beggars and you dare call me a hypocrite! Prepare for battle!" She held up her shield and took out her sword.

**You have been invited to dual. **

**Do you accept?**

**Yes? No?**

Jon didn't want this. She reminded him of the way his former feeders talked to him. A dual against someone like her was pointless.

"What are you waiting for, scum?" she yelled. "Be honored you get to fight the me. Yarel, the holy knight will one day be a name spoken by all. Later you can brag to your friends how you were lucky enough to be slain by my hand." She banged on her shield once she finished talking.

"…"

"Accept."

"Are you afraid of me?" She laughed. "It's understandable. Don't be fooled by my incredible equipment. I'm still only level twenty. More than enough, however, to defeat you without using my awesome skills." She extended her sword with a shaking hand.

Jon was hungry and she was distracting him.

-'It'll end faster if I accept.'-

The second he accepted the dual Yarel sprang to action. She wanted to lay the first hit and was slowly moving closer to Jon while talking.

With a quick step she reached Jon with ease, dropping her sword at Jon's head.

Jon just stood there looking at the blade go down.

-'Pathetic.'- Her armor was so heavy it looked like she was moving in slow motion.

All Jon did, was simply take a small step sideways and let the sword pass right next to him.

She did all the rest for him.

The sword dropped, missing her mark and pulling Yarel after it. The various additions on the armor jingled as she fell face first to the ground.

-'At least she didn't let go of her sword.'-

"Fight fairly you, Pker." she yelled from the ground.

She couldn't even get up. The armor weighed to much for her to lift herself with the strength of her arms and turning to her back was impossible due to the useless decorations.

Jon sat down on her back and began eating his pastry.

"I have lost. Kill me! You may have used trickery, but I have lost nonetheless."

He ignored her.

"Do it already, earn your honor."

This was why he didn't want to dual from the start. Winning duels earned you fame and this was exactly what he didn't need.

"No."

"You bastard! I demand you finish this. I refuse to have my honor stained this way." She struggled to get up.

Jon finished eating, ignoring her screams and protests.

Once she started crying, he kicked away her shield and sword.

The crowd immediately carried them away.

"What are you doing? Leave that alone!" she screamed at the Npc's.

"Is this how you repay my charity?" She was sobbing.

A rock flew from the crowd and hit her helm.

"That's what I think of your charity, you spoiled slut!." Another rock came flying.

The crowd was moving closer and closer.

Jon took her belt knife as it was the only useful thing she had. Unlike the jewel incrusted sword and the shiny shield which meant nothing more than decoration, the knife was simple.

Simple yet well made.

"I'll get my revenge. Daddy will buy me the strongest equipment there is and I'll hunt you down to level one!" She was hysteric.

Jon stood up, wiped his hands on her clothes, tied the belt-knife around his waist and walked away.

The crowed lynched her as soon as he was out of sight.

She screamed as she was stripped and beaten.

"This will feed us for months."

"That's for looking down on us."

"Who's pitiful now ah?"

She commanded the game to log her out, however, the system wasn't instantaneous.

Unless you were dead the game waited for ten seconds before bringing you back to the real world.

These ten seconds felt to Yarel like infinity as she was brutally beaten by the mob. Although one couldn't die playing, the pain felt in the game was real. And when she was finally safe inside her capsule she kept screaming her lungs out.

She swore to get her revenge as she exited the capsule, falling to the floor from exhaustion.

**Your relationship with the beggars of Serabourd Citadel has increased.**

**They now respect and admire you.**

He was still hungry.

-'I should've taken some of her food.'-

He was back at the market again. The pastry he had left him with an urge for more.

He got three silver coins from his kills in the library, so he thought he had enough, but the raised price caused by his negative fame, was more than he had expected.

-'I'll need to start earning some money.'-

He went into the shop he was walking by and asked for a job.

Chased away from it and all the rest of the places he tried, he was becoming hungrier by the minute.

The sun had already set, and when he passed by the library earlier, it was still swarming with guards.

He entered the only restaurant, he could find, that was still open. It was a rich place, but Jon didn't care. He had spent the past years in cages. Jail would be a step up from it.

The head waiter did his job without asking questions. Jon was seated at one of the smaller tables close to the wall.

He ordered large quantities of meat and vegetables, and when that was finished, he asked for more. When he was done, he got up and walked out the door.

A hand grabbed his shoulder the moment he stepped outside. Jon wasn't surprised.

"May I ask where sir is going?"

"…" Jon knew this would happen and was ready for it.

"Sir seems to have forgotten to pay for his food. There's nothing wrong with that, that's why I'm here, to remind you of it."

"…"

"Where's the gold?" his tone changes.

"What's happening here?" another man came out.

"Dragon, sir. This man refuses to pay for his food."

"Does he now? Well, that's what I pay you for. Persuade him to share his gold with us."

"With pleasure, sir." The brute made a fist with his free hand.

"No gold."

"We shall see about that."

He started to push Jon into his small booth. Jon tried to resist but felt powerless. The brute's level was much higher than his. Even worse, his speed was useless as he was already captured.

"Just pay, it will be much faster." The man named Dragon said.

"Can't. No gold."

"No use in telling lies. It won't help you."

"…"

"Last chance."

"…" Jon gave in and stopped resisting. He walked slowly to the booth on his own.

"Wait."

"Sir?"

"I believe him."

"What?"

"Knock him out instead."

Bam! A giant fist connected with Jon's temple and everything went dark.

Jon was aware of the passing time and it seemed like he could still log out, but his screen stayed dark.

So he waited, the darkness was comforting to him.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four – Monsters in the kitchen**

He was cold but could open his eyes now.

"Good, you're awake."

Jon opened his eyes and looked at the man the brute called Dragon. He straightened up.

"I was afraid for a moment. Can't have you dying on me, not before you're done paying for the meat you had eaten."

"…"

"How did you even manage to eat so much? When I heard the amount you owed I thought for sure there were at least three people."

Jon looked around. He was in some sort of freezer. An iron ball was chained to his legs.

"You'd be surprised how handy that thing has become lately. So many people trying to run off without paying."

"…"

"No response, kid? That's a first. I like hearing guys like you complain and beg."

"…"

"Ok… you'll stay here until you've paid back the gold you owe. Here's your knife you will need it." He stepped out of the room.

"That's better, can't stand the cold in there," he spoke to himself, "This here is our fridge. A mage comes by once a month to keep it cold. You, boy, will stay here and peel vegetables with that knife of yours."

A child came inside and put a crate of potatoes in front of Jon and an empty one beside him.

"He will bring them to you," Dragon pointed at the kid, "and take them away once you're done. There is soup on the stove there, take as much as you want. You're no use to me sick."

"…"

"Well? Start working!" he commanded and shut the door.

The blue ball of mana materialized at Jon's command. He stared at the potatoes before him.

He picked up a potato and began working.

**Quest Notice**

**You have begun a quest. This quest cannot be denied and you cannot accept any more quests while this one is in progress.**

**Frozen Vegetables**

**You have refused to pay for your food and as punishment you will have to work for five days.**

**Difficulty: E**

**Reward: Debt is cleared. **

**Relationship with Dragon becomes neutral.**

He was working on his second crate when the door opened.

A huge man squeezed through it and rushed towards him.

"What in Freya's name is this?" he screamed in his face.

"…"

"How am I to work with this?" he was holding a potato peeled by Jon.

'"…"

Jon's lack of response angered him even more. He smashed the potato with his hand and threw it at Jon.

Jon ignored it and simply went back to peeling.

The man stood there watching him, his hurried breath slowly going back to normal.

"Here, let me." He took Jon's knife and picked up a potato and peeled it in two swift motions.

"This is how you do it." He threw the peeled potato at Jon.

Jon picked another potato and gave it to the man.

"Again," he said.

Two swift motions and the potato was peeled.

"You try."

He did. It was a simple motion and Jon was always a quick learner and good with his hands.

"I'll come back when the carrots and onions come." He left as suddenly as he arrived.

Jon went back to peeling.

**Focus Rises by 1(+1 Foc)**

He liked peeling vegetables. It kept him busy and allowed him to forget about the rest of the world. The cold was bearable and the vegetables were never-ending.

The cook came twice more to show him how he wanted the carrots and onions peeled.

No one bothered him about his floating ball of light and he was getting stronger as a player, which was something he started to enjoy.

"You're a hard working young man aren't ya?" Dragon passed by, sharing a comment or two.

"You're the first one who didn't try to escape, you know that?"

It was the morning of the third day already. Jon who worked nonstop both day and night was in a trance like state.

Dragon's words snapped him out of it and he was left disoriented.

"What?"

"I'm saying you're the first one to accept his punishment. The ones before you always tried to escape." He smiled, "They never manage to do it, but they all tried to run nonetheless."

"…"

"I and the boys always place money on how long they will last. You have two more days left, keep this up and we will all lose for the first time."

"…"

"Still keeping quiet?" he started closing the door. "Can't complain as long as you keep working, I guess."

**Focus Rises by 1(+1 Foc)**

**Focus Rises by 1(+1 Foc)**

**Knife/Dagger Mastery Acquired**

**Increases efficiency of handling knives and daggers.**

**When using a knife or a dagger, depending on your level of mastery, the following bonuses will be applied:**

**Attack Speed: +5%**

**Attack Power: +5% **

**Cold Resistance Increases by 5% (+5%)**

And just like that, two more days passed. Jon felt kind of disappointed when Dragon came and told him he was free to go.

"You're done!" he said, "get out of here before I make you pay for all the money I lost on you."

**Quest "Frozen Vegetables" Completed**

**Debt is cleared.**

**Relationship with Dragon becomes neutral.**

He didn't want the quest to end. He liked doing this kind of monotonous work, it kept him busy while letting his mind wander at the same time.

Jon was looking for a job and he decided he wanted this one and applied to Dragon for it from inside the refrigerator.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Hmm… I can use a hard worker like you…"

"…"

Dragon began to smile.

"I have the perfect thing for you. You've met our cook right?" he motioned Jon to follow him. "The big guy who's always angry and yells a lot. Well, if you really want to work here, than your job will be to help him out. Agreed?"

**Job Notice**

**You have been offered work as a kitchen hand. **

**Work schedule: 9 hours a day.**

**Pay: 20 silvers a day.**

**Do you accept?**

**Yes? No?**

"Agreed."

"Good. You can start tomorrow. Be here at seven. We open up at eight and things need to be ready for when the morning customers start coming."

He walked Jon outside and stood at the door looking after him as Jon walked away.

"Five silvers, he quits the next day." The brute said at the door to Dragon.

"Ha. Ten, he stays longer than a week."

"I accept."

"I'll write it down then. Better go ask the rest of the guys." He went inside. "Not a word to Burka! Or the lad might end up dead."

Jon went back to the library to see if it turned back to the quiet place it had been. As he got closer to it he saw there were no longer people standing outside trying to get a glimpse at the body.

He entered through the large wooden doors and listened. The silence was deafening.

"You're back." Unknownadd, the book keeper, greeted him.

"I was afraid the rumor scared you away?"

"Rumor?"

"People seem to think there's some kind of monster hiding in here. They say it killed six people already." He sighed. "It brings more people, but only the wrong kinds of people come."

"…"

"Go look for yourself. I've saved your spot for you." He handed Jon a glass of Scholars Brew.

"Thank you."

He made his way through the bookshelves to the reading area.

Just like Unknowadd said, there were a lot of people there. However, none of them were reading.

These were players, and no longer the usual newbies who wanted to become mages. Although not high leveled, not even one wore the beginners clothes Jon had on him and was used to seeing in the library.

He sat down at his place. The wall of books was left in place and he scanned the room hidden from sight.

He counted twenty seven players. More seemed to be walking around between the bookshelves.

Jon broke off the spell he was constantly using and the blue ball of light disappeared.

-'I'll need it.'-

He took out the eighteenth volume of "Mages through the Ages" from his inventory and began reading, waiting for night to bring with it the darkness.

More people came as the sun went down. The reading area was hot from all the lit candles the players lighted. They seemed to think the candle light would protect them.

Jon knew better. As soon as it was dark enough he went into the sea of bookshelves and roamed it in complete darkness.

He could see the people who were searching for the monster amongst the bookshelves, clearly. They all held candles and the candle light shone through the gaps in the books.

He stepped further inside, until he could no longer see the bright light of the reading area. The sound of them talking was muffled by the books. He summoned the blue mana ball and floated it far from him.

Quietly he waited. There were so many people that it didn't take long for someone to take the bait.

Amongst the players, there were some who formed groups and pairs to search together. Luckily for Jon this player was alone.

He guided the blue light slowly towards where he was hiding, keeping it out of reach of the player.

He waited for the player to pass him and quietly followed him.

The player saw nothing outside the light of his candle. His gaze concentrated on Jon's beginners spell.

-'Silent Strike'-

**Critical Hit**

**You have killed a player!**

**Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)**

**A red mark has appeared on your forehead, it will disappear in 6 hours.**

Jon didn't need a higher critical hit rate or the higher damage the skill gave him, but he never took chances when it came to taking a persons life.

The knife had taken from Yarel, that same knife that he used to peel all those vegetables was lounged deep in the players brain. The hilt of the knife was poking out of his ear, and Jon held it as the player turned grey and disappeared.

A belt dropped to the ground, where just a moment ago the player's feet were.

He picked up the belt and looked at its stats.

**Level Up**

**Sneak Skill Levels Up**

**Level 2 effect: You are 5% harder to see.**

**You make 5% less sound when sneaking.**

**Silent Strike Levels Up **

**Level 2: Deal 15% more damage.**

**Chance of a critical hit increases by 40%.**

**Cost: 50 Mp**

**Dexterity increases by 1 (+1Dex)**

He put it on.

It wasn't much but it was better than the simple rope he had for holding his pants up.

**Hard Cloth Belt**

**Defense: 1 Durability: 9/10**

**A simple belt made out of sturdy cloth**.

As the sun began to rise, Jon left the library and headed towards his new workplace.

He looked nothing like the man who came inside just yesterday.

New boots, pants, hood and simple leather breast armor now covered his body. His knife was strapped safely to his belt. In his inventory lay two swords and a magic staff.

The rumor changed during the night. People no longer suspected there was a monster in the library but seemed to be certain of it. Eight people were confirmed dead by their friends who were online. Jon didn't bother telling them there were more than that.

He was lucky for the rumor as it brought almost a hundred players to the library. His magic bait worked perfectly every time even on the mages.

The rumor now seemed to say, that Unknownadd would give a quest to defeat the monster. So as Jon walked by him he could see a bunch of players swarming around him.

They were all trying to get on his good side so he would give them a quest.

He headed for his new job.

The brute at the door greeted him with a grin. He went inside and entered the kitchen. It was already like a war zone. Half a dozen men were moving about hurriedly, preparing everything for opening time.

Jon located the head cook easily, as his massive size stood out in the small kitchen.

"Dragon tells me you're here to help me." He was already angry.

"You're late!"

Jon wasn't.

"Burka, show him around the place." Dragon poked his head out of his office.

This seemed to make Burka even angrier, but he gave Jon a tour nonetheless. Once the tour was over the orders started coming. Burka never spoke, he always yelled. And as Jon was now his right hand he got the most of the yelling.

Bring this, take that. Wash those, clean here. For nine hours he had to do what Burka yelled at him to do.

Jon didn't mind. He was used to being screamed at, so it didn't bother him. And as for obeying Burka, that too was fine with him as it kept him busy. Even during his break Burka made him work and Jon was fine with it.

Done with work, Jon headed back to the library. He sat at his usual place, opened his book and waited.

It wasn't a good night. The rumor spread even more and the library was full to the brink. Players no longer wandered alone and everywhere parties could be seen being formed.

He read through the night, leaving his seat only to get some of Unknownadd's special brew.

There were too many people; he decided not to risk it. He had a job now and he didn't want to lose it.

He left the library in the morning and went to work.

As soon as work was done he went back to the library.

**Intelligence increases by 1 (+1 Int)**

**You Have Completed A Book: "Mages through the Ages, vol 18"**

**Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)**

**You Have Completed A Book: "Mages through the Ages, vol 19"**

**Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)**

Four days passed this way with only his intelligence stat growing from sustaining the magic ball afloat while reading books. He kept his routine, and while things at work were progressing smoothly he couldn't get the last five kills he needed. The library was still swarming with players.

.

A strange thing happened thanks to the crowded library. It made Jon's relationship with the bookkeeper greatly increase. As Jon was the only person in the library who was still reading books and not searching for the rumored monster, the bookkeeper talked to Jon more with each passing day.

Today when Jon returned to the library from work, the crowd that surrounded Unknownadd was gone.

"Welcome back Jon," he greeted him kindly.

Jon smiled back.

"How are you coming along with the books I showed to you?"

"Last volume."

"That's great. I hope my brew helped with that."

"A lot."

"I was hoping you would say that." He took out a leather flask. "This here is a concentrated doze. I've prepared it especially for you."

Jon took the flask from him and put it in his inventory.

"There were so many people doing everything but reading lately, that the herb I use for my brew is all gone." He sighed. "I'm afraid there isn't going to be any more of it for quite some time now."

"Why?"

"The alchemist I buy it from said the person who supplies it to him hasn't gotten in touch with him for a while. And until he does, I can't make any more brew."

"I used the last of the herbs to make enough for you and me. Be careful though it's much stronger than usual."

"…"

"I know. I'll have a lot of trouble without it as well. My work will become twice as long." He sat down and stroked his long white beard.

"Help?"

"What? You want to help, Jon?" he said, cheered up, "I'm not sure you can though. No hurt in trying, however."

Unknowadd scribbled down a quick map and handed it to Jon.

"Tell him I sent you to help with the herb problem."

**New Quest Added**

**Helping the Bookkeeper**

**Unknowadd, the library bookkeeper has asked you for help with obtaining an herb he desperately needs.**

**The Scholar's Brew he makes is something he can't do his work without, and the herb he uses for it is out of stock. **

**Get it for him as soon as possible.**

**Difficulty: E **

**Rewards: 10 gold.**

**Secret recipe for Scholar's Brew.**

With the bookkeeper's map, finding the small shop was no problem. He understood why the map was needed once he found the shop.

It was located in an alley inside of an alley, far from the main street and inside a cellar of a house. There were no signs and no implications that there was a shop there. Jon wasn't even sure he was in the right place until he entered it.

Inside was dark and smoky. Dozens of smells filled his nostrils.

Everywhere he looked lay thousands of small glass bottles. Hanging from the ceiling were plants that dwindled down to the floor.

From the gaps in the shelves, poked out different flowers in all shapes, sizes and colors.

The only light in the room came from two small windows behind on the wall behind him. The little light that shone through them was dispersed by the hanging plants.

He stepped deeper, looking for a merchant. A sound came from the far side of the room and that's where he headed, or tried to at least.

He had to maneuver through the maze of shelves and plants and when he got to the merchant, the merchant told him to go away.

"I told your boss a dozen times already, the poisons aren't ready yet! Sending you to threaten me won't make it happen any faster." He was measuring a plant to be cut and only spared Jon one fast glance.

Jon's high negative fame was working against him again.

"Not poison."

"Yes, like I said. No poison until I get my next shipment from the supplier." He spoke with his head down.

"A tribe of lizard men decided to change habitats and merchants had to by-pass their usual routes. All of the shipments this week are late in coming."

"Come back next week. I'm sure whoever it is you are planning on poisoning will still be alive to get poisoned."

"Scholar's Brew"

"Hmm?" he looked up at Jon, eyeing him through his small spectacles.

"Unknownadd sent me to help."

"The bookkeeper sent you?" he stopped working completely now.

"To get the Monk's-Tongue he so desperately needs?"

"Yes."

"Well, too bad for him. Like I told him already, there will be no Monk's-Tongue for the foreseeable future." He pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"It's a rare herb and the man who I used to buy it from seemed to have disappeared. I wouldn't be surprised if he died with where he decided to make his home." He went back to trimming the herd on his table.

"I'll get it."

He stopped working again. This time he looked at Jon with annoyance.

"You said Unknowadd sent you? Do you have any proof?"

Jon passed him a piece of paper that had the map drawn on it.

"And you say you want to help obtaining it?" He pushed his glasses up the nose again out of habit.

"I don't mind you doing it, but why are you? I'll tell you now, it's not easy to get. I was the only store in the citadel to sell it, and that's only because I don't mind doing business with shady people."

"…"

"The man I used to buy it from was probably crazy. Living where he lived to get his hands on it, he had to be."

"…"

"Not much of a talker, are you?" he smiled, "That's' good. Better at keeping secrets, you silent types, are."

"It's good you want to help, but do you even know how the plant looks like?"

"No."

"Thought as much." He stood up and got a thick book from the back room.

"Here it is," he opened the book, "But before I show it to you we need to make a deal."

"…"

"If you're going there to find some Monk's Tongue, you might as well get me some other stuff I need on the way. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Good." He flipped through the book. "Let me teach you some basic alchemy. I need quite a bit of herbs so it should help with identifying them.

**Alchemy Skill Learned**

**Alchemy gives you the ability to combine different ingredients into various potions.**

**It also helps with identifying what an ingredient is and what are its various effects.**

**From health potions to growth elixirs and poisons, a higher alchemy skill will allow for better potency results to be created.**

**The bonuses granted by the alchemy skill also apply to cooked food.**

**Note: Ingesting various ingredients will increase the skill and help with identifying the ingredients effect.**

The alchemist lit a candle as the little light from the windows was starting to disappear.

"Are you sure you remember them all?"

"Yes."

"Remember, the more of them you bring the more I will pay you. Even if it's only one kind, bring me a bunch of it and it's fine too. Understood?"

**Quest Update**

**The alchemist asked you to gather him other plants while searching for the Monk's Tongue.**

**He asked for seventeen different kinds and said to bring as many of each as possible.**

**To gather the herbs you must enter the sewers of Serabourg Citadel. However there are iron bars blocking the way, so that monsters do not enter the city. In order for you to get to the area where the Monk Tongue grows, you will need to enter the sewers from outside the citadel walls. Use the northern entrance and head west through the tunnels.**

**Difficulty: E**

**Reward: Depends on amount of herbs gathered.**

"Understood."

"Great. I hope you return alive." He went back to his work and didn't spare Jon another look.

Jon left the shop and headed back to his usual seat at the library. He couldn't continue the quest until he was allowed to leave the citadel. And seeing as how four weeks have yet to pass inside the game, there was nothing he could do for now.

So he went back to the library in hopes of killing a player or two before he needed to go to work.

Unfortunately the library was still packed with groups of players looking for the monster. He went to work without scoring even one kill.

"Eat this!" Burka said in his usual angered voice.

The day was over and Jon got his twenty silvers from Dragon. He was about to leave when Burka offered him a bowl of broth. Jon wasn't particularly hungry but Burka kept staring at him until he began eating.

-'It's good'-

"You have to speak up when you're in the kitchen. You haven't said one word the whole day!" his voice was loud even when he was talking normally.

"…"

"Tomorrow, come before the sun rises. I will show you how to help with the ingredients." Burka said looking at his own feet.

"Ok."

He went back to work, Jon finished eating and left. Burka may look like a fearsome warrior but his cooking skill was the real deal.

**You energy has been completely restored.**

**You no longer feel tired.**

**HP increases by 300**

**Mp increases by 100**

**Stamina increases by 50**

**Effect lasts for 4 hours.**

Although it meant coming more than three hours earlier, Jon didn't mind. With the library crowded as it was, until he found a different place for hunting he had nothing better to do.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five – Slayers, Dragons and Animal Cruelty**

**Cooking Skill Learned**

"That's the basis of it." He was angry from explaining to Jon cooking basics.

"You want to get better, you need to start cooking."

They haven't opened yet, but Jon was already sweating from the kitchen heat. He arrived early like Burka told him and was taken through a cooking boot course.

He used to help Gorge with preparing meals when he was a kid, so cooking wasn't new to him. However what he thought he knew wasn't good enough for Burka.

Jon was yelled at for not holding the knife right, for not moving fast enough, for cutting things too big or too small. Whether he used too much herbs or not enough of them he was yelled at.

Even praise was yelled at him.

"Finally!", "That's right!" or, "Good!" was always said with an angry tone, and loud enough for the whole kitchen to hear.

He might have been taught the Cooking skill, but it would be long until he would get a chance to actually prepare a dish.

For now, his cooking consisted of following Burka's orders and trying to anticipate what ingredient or seasoning he will need next.

Jon worked the whole day and when the time came for him to finish, instead of heading to the library he stayed and continued to help Burka, leaving only when the kitchen was closed for the night.

**Cooking Skill Levels Up**

"You've made it through a week with Burka, I'm genuinely amazed." Dragon stopped Jon as he logged back online.

"I've hired many adventurers like you, they all quit!" he smiled, "Most didn't even last a day with him. Couldn't handle his screaming and bossing around." He laughed.

"…"

"Still keeping to yourself? Your choice. As long as you keep helping Burka you can be a serial killer for all I care."

A corner of Jon's lips curved up just a tiny bit.

"Here, fifty silvers. Your cut of my winnings."

-'No wonder he's in such a good mood.'-

They bet on him again. It seems this time Dragon was wiser.

"Listen, I respect you not talking and all, but if you're going to continue working here I need to know your name at least."

"Jon."

"Nice to meet you Jon." He extended his hand, "Dragon. Dragon the Mighty."

They shook.

"Good. Now, I understand Burka is showing you how to cook." He crossed his hands. "In that case I can't keep you as a kitchen hand anymore…"

"How about you become an apprentice cook? I've always wanted to have one in our kitchen but Burka always scares them away. How about it? You up for it?

**Job Notice**

**You have been offered work as an apprentice cook. **

**Work schedule: 12 hours a day.**

**Time it takes for opening and closing the kitchen is not paid for. **

**Pay: 80 silvers a day.**

**Do you accept?**

**Yes? No?**

"I am."

-'I like Burka.'-

Burka may seem angry all the time, but Jon understood that that was just who he was. He wasn't angry at all, that was just the way he talked.

Jon tried using the cooking skill to cook. All he had to do was invoke the skill and the system moved his body for him. Unfortunately his skill level was so low that all it got him were more angry screams from Burka.

As a result, he ended up cooking by himself, trying hard to keep up with Burka.

The cooking skill would kick in from time to time to adjust his hands position or show to him where and how to prepare an ingredient.

**Cooking Skill Levels Up**

As the skill rose there were even times it would show him a message suggesting what seasoning to use.

One day Burka told Jon to go through the whole seasoning rack, smelling and tasting each of them.

"You need to know their taste and how to recognize them. You waste time reading each label and it's slowing you down!"

Jon did as he was told.

He started from the usual ones like salt, sugar and pepper but soon got to the things found only in Royal Road. From different ground monster parts to things like fairy dust, elemental essence and things that looked, smelled and tasted more like something a witch would use than a seasoning for cooking.

**Alchemy Skill Levels Up**

Tasting unusual ingredients slowly increased his alchemy skill. For some ingredients there was even a popup window, showing its effects.

**Blood Tree Sa****p**

**Sap collected from a Blood Tree. Incredibly sweet and with the beautiful color of red rubies. A blood tree sucks the blood of its victims and uses the blood to grow. A fully grown tree will be as hard as iron and with dark red leaves. The sap is high in calories and iron but getting it requires a lot of force. **

**Effects: Vitality +5 **

**Unknown**

**Unknown**

**Unknown**

**Unknown**

The alchemy skill seemed to supplement the cooking skill.

After he, in a way, identified the ingredients and seasoning with the alchemy skill the things he prepared for Burka became higher quality.

Understanding what he was working with made it easier to work with Gorge.

Cooking took over Jon's life, both in the game and outside of it.

He worked all day long with Burka, and at night when the kitchen closed down instead of heading to the library to read he logged out and cooked together with Jon.

"It is hard to believe that a week has not even passed yet since you started playing." Gorge spoke to Jon as they were making dinner together.

"…"

Jon still kept to himself most of the time, but while cooking he did talk to Gorge when he needed something passed or done.

"And Joshua tried to convince me that this was a bad idea." He was enjoying himself, lost in the nostalgia of the moment.

To Gorge, this was just like the time before Jon's father died. Less than a week ago he believed it was all gone forever, and now he was standing in the kitchen again, working together with Jon.

"Have you decided what to do once you can leave the citadel, Jon?"

"No."

"You should travel the land. I have read about so many interesting places in Royal Road... Maybe I will join you there one day." He was smiling to himself as he added the meat Jon cut into a frying pan.

They ate together as usual with Gorge explaining Jon as much of the game mechanics as he could. Once done eating, Jon jumped back into the capsule to get back to work.

"Give me your knife!" Burka snatched Jon's knife away from him.

"No wonder your work took a step backwards, this knife is dull!" He brought a grinding stone and attached it to the table.

"Look here."

Burka showed him how he attached it to the table. He began turning the handle and the round stone began to spin. Carefully he connected the knife with the stone.

Sparks flew out as the stone ground the metal of the knife's edge.

"Never work with a dull knife!" He spat, "It will ruin the ingredients!"

"You try!"

**Sharpening Skill Learned**

**By the use of a grinding stone, wet stone, sharpening belt and a variety of other tools, you can return the edge of a weapon back to its original sharpness.**

**With good knowledge of sharpening, a weapon can even exceed its original attack power.**

**WARNING: Sharpening may result in durability loss.**

A few minutes later he went back to work. It surprised him how easily the knife cut now.

-'I should sharpen my knife daily from now on.'-

He asked for a small break and visited the blacksmith shop. There he acquired a sharpening kit for a gold coin. An inflated price thanks to his high negative fame, but he decided it was something worth having.

"Listen up, listen up." Dragon came in the kitchen in a happy mood. "I have good news! A dragon was slain!"

The whole kitchen roared.

Jon didn't understand what was happening.

"An old friend of mine was part of the party that slew it." He shushed them.

"As thanks for having taught him how to hunt, he is sending me some dragon meat."

The kitchen staff roared again.

"You all know what that means, so start getting ready. It will arrive in two weeks." He went back to the dining hall leaving the kitchen in an uproar.

"Lucky."

"It's been so long!"

"I can't wait."

"Dragon meat?" Jon asked Burka.

"I know, I'm already drooling." It was the first time Jon didn't hear anger in his voice.

"…"

"You don't know about dragon meat?"

"No."

"Well, lucky you then." He sat down and closed his eyes for a moment. A rare smile appeared on his face.

"You see, Jon. Me and Dragon… well, they didn't call him Dragon at that time. Me and Dragon were dragon slayers, still are in fact, we just didn't kill any dragons lately."

"As in fifteen years, lately." One of the kitchen staff laughed, silenced by a knife thrown by Burka.

"Interrupt me again and you'll be cooking the meat with one hand."

The man went back to work still laughing.

Like I said, we were dragon slayers, the two of us. The best out there! And Dragon, he used to teach the young ones how to hunt them down. So every now and then we get dragon meat sent to us from them."

"…"

"Not impressed, are you?" he was surprised, "Do you even know how hard of an ingredient it is to get?"

"No."

"Ha. In all of Rozenheim kingdom, we're probably the only place to ever sell it. The only other place you'll find it, is on the tables of royalty." He was exited, talking loudly and waving his hands around.

"Not only is it the best quality meat out there, eating it makes you stronger."

"…" Jon was starting to get interested.

"The catch is, no matter how much of it you eat, as long as the meat came from the same dragon, it will affect you only once. Every dragon gives different bonuses and only once."

"That's one of the reasons there are hardly any dragons left now. Dragon slayers hunted them down almost to extinction, all in the pursuit of power." He sighed. "And money!"

"One bite from dragon meat can cost from a hundred and up to a thousand gold and more. Depending on the dragon the meat came from. Of course when prepared by someone like me the price gets even higher."

"Dragon meat is my specialty. I've cooked more dragon meat than anyone alive. People come from all over the land to get a taste of it. Don't be surprised if you see royalty in two weeks."

Jon looked around the kitchen. Everyone was excited.

"You're wondering what it has to do with you?"

"Yes."

"Dragon gives each of the staff a piece of meat. They can do whatever they want with it. Last time I sold most of mine, got me a small fortune. Most cook it for themselves. You'll get some as well, but you better get better at cooking if you want to get a better effect out of it."

"…"

"Didn't you hear me? Start cooking!" the angry Burka returned again.

And so Jon did, now with even more zeal than before.

**Fame rises by 20 (+20 Fame)**

**Health points rise by 100 (+100 Hp)**

His four weeks were over. To his annoyance that came with a small fame bonus.

Although he didn't care much for it right now, what attracted him to the game in the first place was seeing the players on the T.V fight monsters. From goblins to wyverns, the fights he saw on that program mesmerized and intrigued him.

Whenever he fought in the underground battles, in his mind he could do things that when he tried to do in reality, the laws of physics wouldn't allow him.

When he saw things like blocking a tree trunk swung by a troll with a small round shield and man defeat a giant by slashing his way inside the giant's leg and hacking his way through the body only to come out from the mouth, he knew he could finally fight the way he imagined he could.

So, presented with the chance of monster fighting at last, as soon as he finished work he took it.

There were two gates to the citadel, an eastern and a western one. Jon exited through the west gate.

The guards standing on each side of the gate kept their eyes on him as he walked by them. As he stood on the other side of the gate, a pastoralic scene came in to view.

Lit by the dim light of the moon, Jon gazed upon a big stretch of grass, stretching far and disappearing between smaller trees of the forest. From what he could see the forest looked like it had encircled the whole citadel.

While the environment was beautiful, what he saw happening in front of his eyes was horrendous. It froze him in place and he just stood there looking at the massacre happening next to him. Dozens of players were running around, some alone others in parties, and killing everything they were fast enough to catch.

If not for the cover of the night, what Jon knew was supposed to be a green grassland would have surly been colored red.

Wherever he looked cute and fluffy bunnies were butchered. Raccoons and foxes were ganged up on and killed ruthlessly. Jon thought he would be fighting monsters but instead the game wanted him to kill innocent animals to level up.

A wolf ran out of the forest. It was chasing a group of players who kept hitting him and running away. Once it was out of the forest the five of them surrounded it and began beating him ruthlessly. It tried to fight back but against five, it was a lost battle. Jon could hear its whines as is breathed its last breath.

-Disgusting!-

He went back into the citadel with a new goal.

A sign hung over the wooden door, on it were carved an arrow and a knife with their tips touching. The entrance to the rouges guild looked simple and unimpressive.

On the other side of the street was the entrance to the warriors' guild. Unlike the first one, this entrance was spectacular. Clean and freshly painted, it had marvel steps and even an outrageous fountain with a statue of a barbarian in the middle.

There was a good reason for the difference. Guild depended on funds from its members for money. And in Royal Road, the vast majority of players preferred warriors to rouges. Not because warriors were better but only because they were easier to play.

Unlike rouges who had to rely on their own prowess, warriors could rely completely on the game's skill system.

While all a warrior had to do to kill a monster was swing the sword and the system took care of the rest, a rouge, especially one who relies on bows had to aim by himself.

Since most people didn't have good aim, and didn't want to train hard until their skills were high enough to compensate for it, they would simply denounce the idea and become a warrior instead. And so the warrior's guild flourished.

However for what Jon wanted to do he needed the rouges' guild, no matter how run down it looked.

A man exited the guild. He was wearing mages robes and was incredibly tall.

"You're in luck," he spoke to Jon.

"I just finished recasting the lights in the shooting range, they've been out for a week. You came in the right time."

He didn't wait for a response and went on his way. Jon entered the building and was surprised at how empty it was.

"Hello," a man said to him. "You're here to join us?"

Jon could tell he was an Npc by the way he was looking at him. His fame was working against him again.

"Yes."

"Bows or knives?"

"Bow."

"Do you have the bow mastery skill?"

"No."

"You can't join until you have one. But for five gold we will supply you with a practice bow and an unlimited amount of arrows for you to use in our shooting range. Once you acquire the skill come to me and I'll change your class to a bowman."

"Four gold."

"This is not up for negotiation. Five gold is the fee. Come back when you have it." The Npc started walked away.

"I'll cover the price."

"Kino, why waste money on this guy?" the Npc sounded annoyed.

"We hardly get new people and when one finally comes, you refuse to accept him?"

The Npc brought Jon a short bow and a quiver of dull arrows and left for a different room.

"Sorry for him."

"Name's Kino," he extended his hand. "It's good to see a new player take up the bow."

Jon put four gold coins in his hand.

"Wha? It's fine, don't worry about the money. Five gold is nothing at my level." He returned the money to Jon.

"Here, see," He showed Jon a paper with a quest notice on it. "Reward: One hundred and fifty gold coins."

"A couple of harpies attacked a small village in the north and unfortunately a party of idiot warriors decided to take up the quest. All the harpies had to do was fly over their heads and drop rocks. Now the warriors are hiding together with the villagers and I need to come and save the day."

"All of them are the same. Put a sword in their hands and they think they're invincible." He was smiling. "So much gold for shooting down a few harpies, aren't I lucky?"

He hit Jon over the shoulder laughing.

"Anyway I got to get going. I've got a three day walk ahead of me. I hope I'll see ya again here."

He left waving goodbye to the few people who were there.

"The shooting range is that way." He popped his head back through the door.

Jon looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a thick metal door.

"Thank you." He said but Kino was already gone.

Jon looked around for the first time. The room looked like a bar, more than a guild. The only indication of it being a rouges guild was the numerous bows, knives and arrows everywhere. Hung on the walls were the better quality bows and in display cases lay special arrows. Some of those arrows even had a colored glow emitted by them.

No one paid any more attention to him so he went through an iron door and entered a shooting range.

It was big. Very big.

Lit by magic to simulate day light, Jon couldn't even see the farthest target. Three more players were there. One of them stood out thanks to his bow, if you can call it a bow.

-'It's as big as him.'-

He was using arrows the size of rockets, and he was shooting at a target so far away that to Jon, it looked no bigger than a tennis ball.

"You're a newbie too?" A teenage boy asked Jon.

"…"

"I can tell by your bow." He showed his and it was the same as Jon's. "You know what to do?"

"No."

The boy jumped at the opportunity to show off his knowledge.

"You see the closest target to us." He pointed at the fifteen meter target. "All you have to do to get the bow mastery skill is hit that one and the two after it, dead center."

The next two targets were positioned at the thirty and fifty meter marks.

"Sounds easy, right?" a sad laugh escaped him.

"It's not, believe me, I've been stuck on the last target since morning." He strung an arrow and let it fly.

"See? This bow can't shoot that far! And when I complained about it to the others they just laughed at me and said I need to practice until I become stronger." He shot another arrow. Like the other one it landed a couple of meters shy of the target. A bunch of arrows were stuck in the ground around it already.

Jon took out an arrow as well. It was a simple wooden arrow with a metal tip. The edge was completely dull though.

His lack of response made the boy give up the conversation and concentrate on the shooting. Jon sat at one of the benches sticking out of the wall behind him. He took out his sharpening kit. In it was a small device for sharpening arrow tips. He picked the one that fit the arrow he was using out of five different arrow designs and went through the whole quiver.

One of the arrows broke, as it's durability reached zero but the rest were now shiny and sharp.

**Sharpening Skill Levels Up**

He chose an empty place and stood in front of his first target. The target was a straw scarecrow with red circles marked on the head and torso areas. It was approximately human sized and hard to miss at such a close range.

He checked his bow and like he thought it was a simple short bow, about eighty centimeters long and with a 33 kilo maximum draw strength.

He trained with long bows when he was younger, where to draw a string to its optimal shooting position, a force of 71 kilograms was needed.

This was the reason the kid couldn't hit his last target. When Jon logged in for his first time, a part of the scan the capsule took of him was a measurement of his strength and speed. By measuring the electrical pulses from his muscles the capsule calculated his physical parameters and transferred them into the game. Thanks to that, when Jon entered the game his body felt like his real body. The same scan was done on the kid, and since he wouldn't be able to shoot a bow that far in real life, inside the game it wasn't different.

If he wanted to succeed in hitting the last target he needed to raise his strength stat. Ten points were simply the games way of showing each player's real life power. If a player could bench-press one hundred kilo weights his starting out strength stat would be ten, same as a player who can only bench-press twenty kilo weights.

When these two players raise their strength stat the stronger player will have a much higher effect then the weaker one even if they both add the same amount of stats.

That is why players needed to choose the class that suited them best. While a very weak player could become a strong warrior, he would need to put a lot more stat points in strength than a strong player who can already easily wield a heavy weapon even without putting any points into strength.

For the scrawny kid who was trying to shoot a bow next to Jon, the mage class would have been better, or maybe a knife wielding class that relied on speed. That is not to say he couldn't play as whatever class he wanted, it just meant he would have a harder time playing it.

Jon fitted an arrow, lifted the bow over his head with a straightened arm. Slowly he lowered his arm in an arc, pulling back the string as it lowered. When he got into firing position the bow was strung back as far at it could go and the targets head was where he was aiming. He let go of the back of the arrow, letting the bow straighten and sending the arrow flying straight into the colored mark in the center of the straw circle. It hit with enough force to penetrate the straw and poke out on the other side, almost falling completely.

His next arrow hit the thirty meter target and after a few more tries the third target had an arrow stuck in the red colored mark.

**Archery Mastery Acquired **

**Archery mastery affects the ability to use short bows, long bows and crossbows with efficiency.**

**The higher the mastery the better the accuracy of the shoots are.**

**The archery mastery also affects shooting speed and attack power.**

**Level 1 Bonus:**

**Accuracy increased by 5%**

**Attack speed increased by 5 **

"How did you do that?" The boy yelled.

"Practice." He said and left to find the Npc from before.

Jon left the boy dumbfounded at the shooting range and entered the tavern looking room.

He quickly located the Npc and came up to him.

"What do you want?" he said, annoyed.

"Done."

"You're what?"

"…"

The Npc's eyes opened wide and he struggled for words.

"Well… hmm… that was pretty fast." He looked puzzled. "This isn't your first time shooting is it?"

"No."

"I thought as much." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Show me you've learned the archery skill and you'll be officially part of our guild."

Jon spoke out the command in his mind and the skill window opened, he turned it and faced it towards the Npc.

"Let's see now." A smile appeared on his face at last as he finished reading.

**Magic Mastery level 3**

**Archery Mastery level 1**

**Knife/Dagger Mastery level 2**

**Cooking Mastery level 4**

**Alchemy Mastery level 2**

**Sneak Mastery level 2**

**Sharpening level 2**

**Silent Strike level 2**

"You're really stupid," he laughed. "You could've joined using your dagger mastery, and then the bow and arrows would've been free…"

"…"

"No wonder you and Kino got along." He took out a paper page, a quill and an ink well.

"Sign here and you part of us."

**You Have Joined the Rouges Guild**

**The guild is a place for forming friendship and hunting parties.**

**Some guilds have their own blacksmiths and merchants where guild members can trade for cheap.**

**The message board in each guild has many quests and jobs to choose from. **

**As a member of the guild you can get free food and lodging in every city that has a branch of it.**

**Notice: All rouge guild related Npcs now like you.**

As soon as the paper was signed, the Npc's demeanor changed.

Moving the things away, he put his hand on Jon's shoulder and motioned him to follow.

"I'm the caretaker of this guild building, if you ever need help with anything come to me." The y walked into a different room.

"If you're interested in bows, first thing you should do is visit an artillator."

"Artillator?"

"Yeah, he's specializes in bows, crossbows and everything related to archery in general. From arrows to finger guards, he'll have everything you need." He slapped Jon's back a couple of times as he said that.

"And since you're an official member he'll give you a special price."

"Here he is."

They stopped next to a bald man with squinting eyes. He was short but the muscles on his arms stood out sharply compared to his thin legs.

"I've brought you a new guy to equip." He moved Jon forward, and even though he was shorter than him he kept both of his hands on his shoulders.

"Promising young fellow, this one." He pushed Jon forward. "Haven't seen anyone get archer mastery this fast in quite some time now."

The bald man stepped forward. He was holding a large crossbow that he had just finished winding.

"Ballard's the name," he said in a very low voice. The voice didn't match his looks. Small and unimpressive, his voice sounded like something a giant would speak with.

"Jon."

"So, Jon, what's your weapon of choice?" He spread his hands to indicate the many bows and crossbows around him.

Jon looked around from where he was standing.

"You're very tall… long arms..." he mumbled to himself, "getting archery fast means you either have an inborn talent or, and this is more likely, you have experience with sharp shooting!"

"…"

"So what weapon are you experienced with?"

"Longbow."

"Yes… I guessed correctly." He put a crossbow down and took two bows of their hooks.

"Shorter or longer?" He held a bow in each hand.

While both were generic longbows, thin and made out of sturdy yet flexible wood, the left one was shorter than the other.

At six feet long (180cm) the left bow was the shortest possible length for a bow to be considered a longbow. The right bow, a standard longbow, was seven feet long (210cm) when not strung.

"Longer."

Ballard was silent for a moment. He looked at Jon from head to toe and put both bows back to where he had taken them from.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not looking for a strong attack bow, are you?"

He was correct.

"Need distance." Jon acknowledged that Ballard was a professional in his trade.

"Ahah! Very well." He began taking off bows one by one, trying to get to something far in the back. He was excited.

"I've made this one a long time ago." He took out a simple looking longbow. "If it is distance you need, nothing will compare to this! I just hope it's not rotten inside." He took a string from a pile and started bending the bow.

"I made it from wood of a floating tree. That's the reason for the color." He gave the strung bow to Jon. Although the same size as the other seven foot bow, its color was teal in the middle turning cyan towards the endings with the tips of the bow an almost transparent with a faint sky blue tint.

But it wasn't the color that surprised Jon, it was the weight. It was as light as a feather and just like one, when he let go of the bow, it didn't fall. It floated down and he just lazily picked it up right before it hit the ground.

"One of my favorite works." Ballard said, his eyes becoming wet and shiny, "Too bad it's as good as useless."

Jon looked at him questioningly.

"No attack power," he stated.

"It will kill a rabbit or a fox, but anything bigger and unless you hit a vital spot you'll need to wait for it to bleed to death." He sighed. "You're better off just running up to the monster and hitting it with the bow."

"Why?" Jon asked.

"Why am I showing it to you? If you want to hit far away targets, nothing I have here can compare to it. A good long bow can shoot an arrow at a target more than two hundred meters away… this beauty can send an arrow flying three hundred meters without you even breaking out a sweat."

Jon looked at the bow in his hands. He had to look at it or else he didn't even feel it was there.

"Come on now, give it here, I was just bragging a little. It is a useless bow and it's been left to rot for it."

"I'll take it."

"You're serious?" he grabbed Jon's arm with incredible strength. "You better not be kidding. A novice like you won't even have the skill to shoot the far, no point of you taking it just to make me feel better."

"…"

They looked each other in the eyes, Jon with his perfect poker face and Ballard with his half closed eyes.

"I think the caretaker was right, you really are a promising one." He let go of Jon's arm.

"Okay, let's get you fitted for shooting." He began throwing things at Jon for him to try on.

He didn't need much but Ballard insisted on equipping him from head to toe. Jon put on a matching set of leather armor.

Thick and sturdy, it may now stop a sword but a knife or an arrow won't pass through easily, while teeth and talons would only get stuck.

The only thing he kept from his original attire was the simple brown hood he got from one of the killed players in the library. It didn't offer any protection like the leather helmet Ballard insisted on, but it could hide a red PKer mark if there was ever a need for it.

"Come on; let's go give my beauty at test run." He hurried Jon towards the shooting range.

"Where are you taking him?" yelled the caretaker from behind the bars counter.

"To shoot of course!" He kept hurrying.

"Take him to the instructor first."

It was clear Ballard was eager to see his bow in action. He debated with himself and decided the instructor came first.

"He will help you shoot better. After me."

The instructor offered to change Jon's class to a Longbow Man.

**Class Change Notice**

**You have been offered to switch to a Longbow Man from an Assassin.**

**Skills gained by becoming an assassin will be deleted, unless you have reached level two or higher in them.**

Both the sneak and the silent strike skills were level two, so he will keep them. And even if he didn't Jon wouldn't have hesitated, he wanted to use bows and the Longbow Man class suited him at the moment.

He accepted without a second thought.

**You have changed your profession to a Longbow Man.**

**With a longbow being considered a commoners weapon, this class is one of the most played classes.**

**This is the class to choose if you want to kill your opponent from afar. Precise and deadly, an arrow fired from a longbow will come down whistling from the sky, penetrating both armor and flesh.**

**+20 Dexterity**

**+5 Strength**

**A longbow man can choose between an Archer and Hunter class when he reaches level 30. To initiate the class change quest you will need to visit an instructor specific to your class.**

**Perception Stat Added**

**A stat that affects a player's power of vision. **

**As the stat rises so will a player's ability to perceive moving objects and notice details in his surroundings. **

**The higher the stat the farther a player can see.**

**It is said that a player with very high perception can even count the number of locusts in a moving swarm.**

**Power Shot Skill Learned.**

**By temporarily surrounding the bow with mana, the longbow man can draw the arrow farther than the bows maximum breaking point.**

**This allows the longbow man to fire an arrow that deals more damage and has a higher chance of penetrating the target.**

**Level 1: Maximum firing distance 30m**

**Attack power increased by 10%**

**Cost: 20 MP**

**Owl's Instincts Skill Learned**

**An owl, the shadow of the night. It hunt's under the moonlight managing to catch and kill pray with easy even in the darkest of nights. **

**With instincts so honed he manages to insert his talons into his targets vital spots at amazing speed and with incredible precision even under the most difficult conditions.**

**Users of bows have strive to achieve their astounding feats throughout the ages.**

**Level 1: Critical Hit Chance +5%**

They entered the shooting range. The boy was still there trying hard.

He looked at Jon when he came in and jealousy overwhelmed him. Here he was, on his third day of shooting and still without the archery mastery, looking at a guy dressed like a real rouge. A guy that only an hour ago entered the guilds shooting range for the first time.

"You ready?" Ballard was having trouble hiding his excitement.

"Shot it as far as you can, don't worry about the place, it's a magical room. The ceiling is as high as the sky and it will take you days of walking to reach the other side."

"…" Jon took out an arrow from the quiver safely attached to his waist.

Ballard bit his lip as he looked at Jon fit the arrow between his finger-guards and placed the shaft between his finger and the wood of the bow. It fell comfortably into a small cervix in the center of the bow.

He drew it back hard.

He had to use more strength than he was used too, to make it bend, but he managed to draw the arrow back until he felt the feathers on the back tickle his ear.

Raising the bow to a forty-five degree angle, took aim at nothing in particular and let go of the arrow.

The arrow disappeared from sight, leaving behind it a whistling sound. After a few moments it appeared as a small dot falling down to earth in the far distance. Where it landed was too far for Jon to see, but Ballard next to him whistled while up to the point it hit the ground.

"Five hundred meters, easy." He clapped his hands a couple of times.

"Didn't I tell you? Nothing can compare to it!"

Jon was amazed, so much in fact it almost showed on his face. Almost.

-'Weapon stat'- he spoke in his mind.

**Star Piercer**

**Attack: 1 Durability: 50/50 Multiple Shot Speed: 9**

**A bow made out vines of a floating tree. These trees spin their vines at incredible speed, which allows them to ride wind currents from one place to the other in the search of nutrients. **

**The vine is very strong, light and elastic making it fine building material but poor basis for weapons. The vines characteristics make it incredibly weak and most you are better of using a stone.**

Just like the description said, the bow had the same attack power as a stone. Normal arrows had one attack power and buying stronger arrows was out of the question.

However the shooting distance it allowed for was extraordinary, and this was more important to Jon than attack power.

-'This is perfect.'- He felt good.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six – A Fighting Chance**

Jon felt the night was wasted away.

Every time he tried to leave, Ballard stopped him and urged him to keep shooting.

He shot far, he shot near, he shot at standing targets and at moving ones, he shot at sky and at the ground.

He told Jon to try shooting multiple arrows at once for a while, but when Jon failed to hit even the closest target Ballard gave up.

"We'll try that again when your mastery is higher," he said.

Ballard made him fire arrows nonstop for half an hour, so he could measure the firing speed. Even though a few years had passed since he last used bows, he fared well.

A good longbow's man can fire twelve to fifteen arrows a minute. Jon managed eight to nine per minute.

The artificial light inside tempered with one's feeling of time. If the boy shooting next to Jon didn't mention he had to log out as it was morning soon Jon would've just stood there the whole day, firing the way Ballard told him.

**Archery Mastery Levels Up**

**Dexterity Rises By 1 (+1 Dex)**

**Perception Rises By 1 (+1 Per)**

**Perception Rises By 1 (+1 Per)**

Five hours of shooting left their mark on Jon. The skill and stat rising weren't so important as him getting used to the bow again.

The archery mastery skill worked by subconsciously correcting Jon's hands into the right position. The higher the skill level the more accurate was the correction.

However, Jon's precision was pretty good to begin with, and amplified by his low level mastery he succeeded in satisfying Ballard's expectations of him.

He didn't need to come back tonight, he had other plans, so before leaving he stocked his inventory with ten bundles of arrows. They were all simple, training arrows but they were free.

Work passed smoothly. He had already got used to the kitchen fast pace and even managed to predict Burka's need form time to time, which lowered the amount of times he got screamed at.

During his break, he mounted the grinding wheel on one of the tables and slowly went through the arrows in his inventory.

They were so dull, that when he checked their attack power it was at zero. Grinding the metal tips until they were sharp again returned the attack power to one.

Compared to the twelve attack power knife, Yarel was kind enough to donate to him, it was nothing. But Jon didn't care as the monotone act of sharpening appealed to him.

**Sharpening Skill Levels Up**

There were thirty arrows in each bundle. It took him ten seconds to sharpen an arrow and before his work was finished all ten bundles had been finished.

"Good hunting." Burka wished him as Jon ran off the second his work was done.

The sun had already set and the only light came from the moon and the star filled night sky.

Jon was standing at the edge of the forest, only a few bushes and a tree separated him from the grassland where numerous players were busy chasing helpless animals.

The citadel gate was about two kilometers away, only the burning fire and torches were visible in the night. He couldn't see the guards and that meant they couldn't see him.

Equipped with his bow and fitting an arrow, he waited.

There was a party of four moving close to the edge of the forest towards the place he stood, hidden in the dark between the trees.

The party consisted of a warrior, two mages and a bowman. The warrior was stepping on the bushes, making noise on purpose, while the other three walked some distance from him.

When the warrior was less than fifty meters away from Jon, he suddenly began sprinting towards the citadel.

A wolf jumped out of the thicket chasing him.

He heard the murmur of the casting mages and saw the bowman draw his bow.

Jon drew his bow and let go of the arrow. He was faster than the bowman and as he released the arrow he didn't look at it to see if he hit his target. Instead he quickly materialized the floating ball of mana before the bowman's face.

He heard a scream of pain that meant his arrow hit its target and saw the bowman drop his arrow to cover his eyes from the sudden bright blue light.

Looking back at the warrior he saw him standing with one knee on the ground clutching his hip where an arrow was sticking out from.

The arrow dropped very little of the warrior's Hp but it made him stagger and fall. The running wolf did the rest. It jumped to the air and flew at the warrior, snapping its jaws on the warrior's neck, breaking his Adam's apple and cutting through the main jugular vane.

Once the warrior turned grey and disappeared the wolf changed its target to the bowman, who was struggling to fire because of the moving ball of light.

Three quick jumps and the wolf was under the bowman's feet slashing the torso with its talons. The bowman turned grey after two slashes.

As the bowman disappeared and the blue light covered the wolf, Jon thought he saw the wolf get bigger.

The two mages, now defenseless, forgot about their incantations and started running, with the wolf following after them. He strung another arrow and took aim at the farther mage of the two.

The wolf reached the first mage while Jon's arrow was still in the air.

One swing of the wolf's paw was enough to get rid of the little Hp the mage had.

**Critical Hit**

The arrow went through the mage's throat, a part of it poking out on each side. The mage tried to complete his incantation but blood filled his mouth and he started to choke. The wolf slashed his stomach open a second later.

Lit by an incomplete fireball in the mage's hand, Jon could see clearly this time. As the mage died the wolf suddenly grew in size. He dispelled his magic and looked at the wolf.

From what he had seen earlier, when a player managed to escape from a wolf or when a wolf managed to get the kill, it would immediately go back to the forest. This wolf didn't.

It walked up and sniffed the arrows that fell to the ground once the bodies disappeared. Finished with the arrows it lifted its head and began sniffing the air. Done, it looked at where Jon was hiding.

Even though he couldn't see them, he could feel the wolf's eyes staring at him and he gazed back unblinking. After a minute or two, the wolf slowly trotted aside and sat down on its hind legs. Getting comfortable it again looked at Jon.

Ten minutes passed like that. Both Jon and the wolf seemed frozen in place. Even the sound of another party not far away didn't make the wolf flinch.

Jon was trying to remember something Gorge mentioned to him. It took a while but he finally remembered.

"Monsters in Royal Road can level up and become stronger the same way players do." Was what Gorge said to him during dinner.

He stepped out into the grassland and headed to where the warrior died. In his place were lying a fox pelt and an arrow, which he picked up before continuing to the place the rest of the party died.

Three fox pelts and rabbit meat were his reward for helping the wolf. He threw the meat to the wolf, which was following him with his stare all the while. The meat fell next to him but he didn't move, he just kept staring at Jon.

Making sure he picked everything up, Jon dispelled the ball of light and returned to his spot in the forest. Once safely hidden from sight, he watched the wolf devour the rabbit meat and lay down to wait.

"Are you sure it was there?"

"I'm telling you I saw something bright floating around here!"

"Maybe it was a fairy?"

"Are fairies considered monsters? I wonder how much exp they give…"

"Who the fuck cares, man. It's a freaking fairy! I'm tired of fighting animals; I want to kill something cool."

A party of three was heading to where Jon had picked up the loot. Attracted by the mana ball he used to light the ground, they risked getting close to the forest edge.

Jon glanced at where the wolf was and managed to notice him only because he knew where it was. Crouching flat against the ground, the wolf looked ready to attack.

He wasted time no more. Summoning the ball of bright blue light again, he drew an arrow and took aim at the same time.

"There it is! I told you I wasn't seeing things!"

A player wielding a sword ran away from the group to where the ball materialized.

Getting closer he suddenly said:

"Guys, I don't think it's a fairy… I'm pretty sure this is some kind of maAAUUGHHHHHHH"

**Critical Hit**

**Focus Rises by 1 (+1 Foc)**

The scream of pain was heard all the way back inside the citadel.

The player fell to the ground clutching at an arrow lodged inside his eye socket. No blood was flowing as the arrow was stopped by his skull. Nonetheless his face was wet. The fluids of his eye dripped down his face, reflecting the light of the floating ball, allowing Jon to see the expression of pain that covered it.

To Jon's disappointment, the bow was so weak that even a critical hit wasn't enough to kill a player.

"What happened?" The other two yelled in a worry.

The mana ball floated towards them and one of them tried to cut it with an axe but missed. Both of them now had their weapons in their hands but the ball rose high, out of their reach.

It served its purpose, by distracting them from the sprinting wolf who had already disposed of the screaming friend.

Another arrow pierced the hand of the axe wielder, making him drop his weapon to the ground.

"It's an ambush!" He started to scream, but was silenced by the wolf's claws reaping out his throat.

He fell to the ground choking with his own blood as he slowly bled to death. He lived long enough to see the wolf gnaw his friend's head off his shoulders.

All three players were gone, and under the magic, bluish light the wolf became bigger again.

Jon canceled his magic and was looking around to make sure there was no one to see him when he noticed the wolf walking towards him.

It stopped before Jon. With only a couple of bushes and a tree separating them, he could smell the animal odor that came from it.

It was holding something in his mouth, and when it let go, Jon saw it was the loot.

Three pelts and two arrows lay between him and the wolf.

He picked them up and tried to pat the wolf, but as his hand rose so did the lips of the wolf and it began to snarl. It stopped only when Jon went back into the darkness. The wolf sat there, as if waiting for Jon to do something.

Jon didn't take Star Piercer for nothing. His main goal was to help animals defend themselves. The wolf distracted him from it, but now it was time he began.

What Jon wanted to do was the same he did with the wolf, distract and hinder the players' movements to give an animal a chance to run away or retaliate. He couldn't do it in the day time and it had to be from afar, so that the players wouldn't turn on him.

Shooting from inside the forest hidden by the darkness of the night made him feel good. He felt like he was handing out justice. Lusting after the higher exp reward that monsters gave during the night, the grassland was full of players. This worked to Jon's advantage in two ways.

First of all, it meant he had a lot of targets to choose from. Second, monsters were stronger and more ferocious during the night.

Jon picked a player who was fighting something small around three-hundred meters from him.

He took aim at him and fired four arrows in a row. The fourth arrow left his hands right as the first fell down.

He looked to see if he had hit his target and saw that the first arrow didn't even come close. In the time it took the arrow to fall the player had already moved away. The other three arrows glittered through the sky, reflecting the moonlight of the sharpened tips, and buried themselves into the ground around the first one.

-Can't fire in an arc…'-

The way he fired didn't work. He shot them high into the sky and let them fall down in a high arc to the ground. It took longer for the arrow to fall but it was the only way he knew of that allowed to shot at these distances.

But who was he kidding?

This wasn't real life, this was a game, and games followed their own rules!

He was holding a bow in his hands that could throw an arrow half a kilometer with ease. He needed to forget about real life limitations soon, as those were what made him want to play in the first place.

He picked a different target, a bit closer this time, took aim, and instead of lifting the bow at a higher angle, he simply drew it back harder.

The arrow flew out at an incredible speed. Slicing the air it whizzed by his target, making him turn around in surprise. There was no chance he could see him from almost two hundred meters away, so while the player looked around to see what startled him Jon was already taking aim again.

It took some time getting used to, but when the whole bundle of arrows in his quiver was gone he felt confident he could make it work.

He refilled the quiver and chose a target a little bit closer this time.

The first arrow missed but only by a small margin. The second arrow missed as well.

On the third try it struck true.

It struck the player's left shoulder with a metallic sound and made him stagger. Unfortunately it didn't have much affect as the shoulder plate stooped the arrow from going deep. Although only a flesh wound, it managed to stun and distract, giving the fox the player was fighting a chance to counter attack.

The fox jumped and bit the player's hand. He trashed around and flung his arm from side to side, but the fox hung on.

The surprise passed and he managed to regain his calm. He stopped flailing around and took out his belt knife. He lifted the knife over his head and was ready to part the fox's body away from its head when he noticed the white teeth that came flying at him from out of nowhere.

The wolf's body struck him full force. Its claws ripped the flesh of his arms and the teeth dug deep under his clavicle bone.

This caught Jon by surprise. Not only did the wolf sprung into action as soon as his arrow connected with the player but he also brought the arrow back together with a silver coin.

The fox ran off somewhere when it saw the wolf.

-'It's like playing catch.'- Memories of playing with the mansion guard dogs resurfaced.

-'Only this is better!'-

**Dexterity Rises by 1 (+1 Dex)**

**Focus Rises by 1 (+1 Foc)**

**Dexterity Rises by 1 (+1 Dex)**

**Strength Rises by 1 (+1 Str)**

**Perception Rises 1 (+1 Per)**

By the time the sun began to rise, more than four hundred arrows had been fired. And even if about ninety percent of them were misses, as the first rays of sunshine illuminated the vast grassland, Jon could swear there were more animals running around than the day before.

It was time for him to go back to the kitchen.

He was waiting for the wolf to come back with the loot. It was running up the field, an arrow held between its teeth with a pelt jumping up and down with the rhythm of the wolf's movements,

Jon had the items dropped into his hands.

"Thank you."

The wolf still refused to be touched but it would now drop the stuff into Jon's hands…

"I'm glad you're fine." Burka said with an unusually quiet voice. "I heard there was a wolf that strayed from the forest and attacked people last night."

Jon stopped working and looked at him in wonder.

"I think you shouldn't go hunting tonight. If our idiotic doorman can overpower you, a wolf might kill you."

"Don't worry." He went back to working.

"I'm not worried about you, you fool!" His angry voice returned. "If you go and get mauled by a wolf my workload will grow!"

"So you better be careful out there!"

"Nine days left before the dragon meat arrives, you shouldn't even waste your time hunting!"

Burka started tendering the meat with a hammer, with more strength than he needed to.

Compliments from the customers that night, praised the meat for its tenderness.

Before going back to the forest, he stopped by the guild and restocked his arrows. Ballard tried to question him on how his bow worked but Jon managed to sneak away.

He walked to the spot he used yesterday and observed the grasslands before him.

It was a cloudy night and visibility was low.

He couldn't tell clearly, who was standing where after fifty meters, so he targeted mages.

When a mage began to cast his magic, a glow emanated from the part of body the magic would be focused on. At night, that glow could be seen from afar.

It was good for Jon that more than half of the players started out as mages. However most of the players were school or university students. So the majority of beginner mages changed their classes to a fighting class once they realized how much studying and reading, getting stronger as a mage involved.

Wherever he looked there were small puddles of light of different color. The red color dominated as the fireball was the most common beginner spell.

He drew an arrow and took aim when he suddenly thought of something.

-'Silent Strike'- he initiated the skill and his arrow began giving off a faint bluish glow from the forty five Mp that went into it.

**Critical Hit**

-'Cool.'-

He took aim was was about to release another arrow when he saw the red light go out suddenly.

There was no kill massage and the fireball disappeared too suddenly for it to be canceled.

A few moments later he got his answer in the form of a wolf. It brought back his arrow together with a few silver coins.

He wiped the coins on his pants and put them in his inventory. Out of the inventory he took out a large chunk of cooked meat and gave it to the wolf.

It hesitated at first, smelling cooked meat for the first time, but devoured it with pleasure after he risked a bite.

-'I wonder if the bonuses of the meat will affect him?'-

It was meat prepared by him, and it gave a bonus to the dexterity and strength stats. Small bonuses as his cooking skill was still low, but bonuses nonetheless.

Joined by the wolf, Jon began playing catch.

**Silent Strike Levels Up**

**Level 3: Deal 15% more damage.**

**Chance of a critical hit increases by 40%.**

**Cost: 45 Mp**

**Dexterity Rises By 1 (+1 Dex)**

Morning came and he returned to work.

The same as yesterday, after work he stopped in the guild and restocked his supply of arrows before going to his spot in the forest.

It was another dark night, with the moon hidden behind the clouds. Tonight the wolf was waiting for Jon at his spot and as he greeted it, he also gave him another chunk of cooked meat.

The strategy of the third night was a little different, as last night's mage hunting was rather effective; there were hardly any mages left.

He would summon the ball of light and float it over the field. When the light revealed a player or a party of them, only then would he shoot.

The wolf no longer waited for the arrow to designate a target, but would begin running as soon as Jon began pulling back the bow.

**Magic Mastery Levels Up**

**Level 4 effects: Can cast beginner level spells.**

**Casting speed increased by 8%**

**Focus Rises By 1 (+1 Foc)**

**Intelligence Rises By 1 (+1 Int)**

** Intelligence Rises By 1 (+1 Int)**

Nothing changed until the sixth day.

The first players who ha been killed by the wolf logged back in on the fifth night, and they were looking for revenge. They called their friends and those called theirs. The news spread like wild fire, and starting from noon players began to gather outside the citadel gates.

Looking at their gear it was clear they were all beginners, most didn't even have a weapon, and among those who did, wood was what they were made of.

The more experienced players seemed to distance themselves from the mob.

Seraborg citadel, being a starting city, was populated mostly by beginners and high level players.

Players leveled ten to sixty were usually adventuring the countryside in search of dungeons or were busy doing quests.

The players in the mob were attracted by word of a demonic wolf that could use magic and was as big as a horse. For many of them it was their first time hunting and the chance to partake in what they considered a boss hunt was too alluring to ignore.

As the sun hid behind the horizon they stepped on to the grassland in search of the enormous wolf.

When Jon arrived there were enough people to be considered a small army. More than a quarter of a thousand players moved about. The brave ones walked by the forests edge, trying to lure out the beast.

The search was concentrated around the place where he used to hide and shoot from. Not wanting to attract attention he entered the forest from a place the mob ignored.

He took out a piece of cooked meat and after a couple of minutes the bushes began to rustle and the wolf appeared.

It approached Jon and began licking his hand. He petted him and they shared the meat.

"I don't think we can play tonight." He spoke, scratching behind the wolf's ear.

"You've become big and strong, but there's just too many of them." The wolf licked his face in answer.

Even with Jon standing straight, all the wolf had to do to reach his face was lift its nose. The nights spent playing catch have transformed him.

"I want to play too. But even you can't take care of all of them by yourself…" he said, patting its fur.

The wolf backed away and walked out of the forests' cover.

"Come back here, we can play tomorrow!"

The wolf didn't listen. Instead it got into a crouching stance to show its readiness.

Low level players usually ignored wolves and if they ever encountered one, they would run away.

If a party did decide to challenge a wolf, they would need an average party level of nine and at least four players. However, even then they would have a hard time and there was a big risk of someone dying.

That was what fighting a wolf in Royal Road meant. Wolves were the strongest beginner monsters and had a lot of Hp.

The wolf, so eager to play, was much stronger than a normal wolf. It has leveled up during the past five nights and has become considerably stronger, faster and smarter. If it wanted to play Jon wasn't about to say no.

He took out the bundles of arrows from his inventory and set them in the ground. This way he wouldn't run out of arrows no matter how many he let loose.

"Cerb, you ready?"

Cerberus lowered his tail, raised his head and howled at moon. The howl traveled far and got the attention of all of the players in the vicinity.

**Wolf's Blood Lust Buff Added**

**For the duration of the next battle, the following bonuses are applied:**

**Attack speed increased by 30%**

**Movement speed increased by 15%**

**+30 Dexterity**

**+30 Strength**

**+100 Hp **

Behind them the forest came alive. Something was moving through it fast and it wasn't trying to hide.

Out of the forest came out twenty nine wolves and formed a line with Cerberus.

Snarling, barking and howling they got ready to face an oncoming army.

The sight of the ferocious wolves was more than enough to send chills down their bodies; they would be fools not to run away.

However the mob effect kicked in, making them confuse stupidity for courage. Screaming and yelling the wave of people began running towards the wolves.

Jon laughed and got into firing position.

-'By the time they get here they'll be completely out of breath.'- The wolves waited for them to get closer.

He didn't need to aim. He simply went by the motions as fast as he could, letting the arrows fall like rain on the enemies heads.

Once he got used to the bow his arrow per minute rate became twelve to fourteen. Amplified by the Cerebrus's wolf pack buff he managed to fire seventeen to twenty arrows in a minute.

The arrows fell, crippling, stunning and maiming.

The faster players who got closer first were killed by the wolves with ease.

A moment of silence passed the scene.

The players were running almost silently, the wolves froze in a crouching position and Jon had finished his second bundle of arrows.

Suddenly it all exploded.

The wolves sprung into the oncoming army with grace and coordination. Magic and arrows came flying at them. Jon was sweating, with an incredible rush of existent building up inside of him.

**WAR**

**The system detected the start of a major battle.**

**You will not be able to disconnect until the fight is finished.**

**Death and kill penalties will not be applied.**

**Warning: Only the winning side will be rewarded. Staying alive is not a must and dead players will be rewarded when they reconnect.**

The wolves killed player after player with swiftness none could match. Arrows bounced off of their fur, fire balls singed it, ice darts froze it and lightning bolts simply gave them a little shock.

The hits kept coming, hardly leaving their marks on the wolves Hp bar.

Jon located Cerberus with ease. He was twice as big as the other wolves.

He ran through the middle of the field, a line of bodies left behind him.

Jon couldn't stay on the sides any more. This was why he joined. He wanted to fight in ways real life just didn't allow.

He stashed his bow and took out one of the swords he got in the library. In his other hand he was holding Yarel's knife. He walked out of the forest slowly. The sound of his heartbeat overshadowed everything else. He felt calm and couldn't stop himself from smiling.

-'Silent Strike-' His knife went in and out of a warrior's neck, cutting the jugular and sending a spray of blood into the air.

**Critical Hit**

Continuing the motion he twisted the knife in his hand and stabbed the player next to him in the neck as well. He spun, slicing a third player's head almost completely off and pushing the knife in a fourth player's armpit.

**Critical Hit**

**Critical Hit**

**Critical Hit**

**Level Up**

He did it fluently, not even slowing down. A fountain of blood covered him in red.

He kept walking forward while he distributed the stat points.

-'I want to decapitate someone.'- was the reason he put all the stat points into strength.

**Level Up**

**Level Up**

**Owl's Instincts Levels Up**

**Level 2: Critical Hit Chance +8%**

Twelve more died, all of them critical hits. An arrow struck his chest. The metal tip got stuck in the leather armor while the wooden shaft broke off and fell to the ground.

Two more warriors fell and another arrow struck him.

He looked at the battlefield and analyzed the situation. Cerberus was making minced meat out of the long range players standing on the sides of the battle. The close ranged players ganged up on the wolves and Jon could see two wolves lying on the ground beaten to death.

-'Cerb will manage alone.'-

Helping the wolves was more important, as the arrows did little damage and magic could be avoided.

But that wasn't what drove him to a run. It was the sight of a huge amount of players gathered around the wolves that appealed to Jon. The wolves got surrounded by the players, with some fighting while others trying to get close enough to land a hit.

He sprinted towards them, putting ten points into strength. He reached the first player who, like the rest of them, was looking away from Jon, fighting to get closer to the center. The knife struck him in the nape of the neck and he fell down to the ground. Next to him players were dropping like flies.

"Traitor!" someone bellowed.

Those around him turned to stare at Jon. He was covered in blood, standing on a pile of dead bodies. They froze when they saw his smile but recovered when someone shouted:

"Get him!"

A dozen players went after him. Jon dashed at the closest one and inserted the knife into his shoulder, climbed him and jumped using him as a spring board.

He flew through the air, the head of the players lifted to look at him pass into the center where the wolves were.

-'Silent Strike'-

He fell on top of a player, forcing his sword down the player's surprised mouth. With his flat side of the knife he managed to deflect an oncoming club. Following the wooden shaft of the club he sliced the fingers that were holding it. Drawing the sword out he was saved from a hit to the head by a bleeding wolf.

Jon was having the time of his life. He just wished his opponents had a bit more fighting experience. But he wasn't about to waste the moment away.

Like a whirlwind he began making his way outside the collar of players. The wolves followed, adding more bodies to the path. Pop-up massages telling him he made a critical hit flashed in his eyes.

**Knife/Dagger Mastery Levels Up**

**Level 3: Attack Speed 10%**

**Attack Power +5% **

Jon dodged a wooden training sword by crouching fast and sticking his knife into the swinging players boot. The player jumped in pain and a wolf trapped his neck between its teeth.

A path cleared before him and Jon dashed forward. Jumping high, he twisted in the air.

His legs pointing into the night sky, he turned around himself as if screwing into the ground. With the sword and knife horizontal to the ground he cut the knees of three players. Finishing his spin he fell on his feet in time to block a fist with the sharp side of his knife.

The players with the cut knee fell on their good knee and had their faces slashed at by the wolves.

**Level Up**

**Speed Stab Skill Learned**

**The skill allows you to perform a stabbing motion with your weapon of choice, with a speed that far accedes your normal abilities.**

**The motion is so fast; it allows you to perform multiple stabs in the time it would have taken you to make one.**

**Level 1: Number of stabs - 2**

**Mp cost: 20 **

They continued moving straight, receiving blows from all sides. The hits were weak and Jon's leather armor protected him from any serious injury, but the accumulated blows were starting to affect him.

Thoughts of losing passed through his mind and his moves began to slow down. He was starting to tire. A sound of a howl enveloped the battlefield and a moment later body parts began flying through the air. Cerberus was cutting his way to Jon and the wolves.

Cerberus was even bigger now. Jon could see the top of his head over the rows of players separating them. He was using his claws more than his teeth now. His front legs became longer and his torso looked wider. From time to time he even raised himself on his hind legs, swinging both his paws at the enemy. Each slash cut a player to pieces. A human head could fit in his jaws with enough room to move around.

Weapons broke off his body and magic couldn't even capture his attention. He looked feral, resembling a demon more than a wolf.

The sight of Cerberus invigorated Jon and fueled his hurting body.

-'Speed Stab!'- The player he aimed his skill at had both of his lounges punctured at the same time.

-'Speed Stab.'- -'Speed Stab.'- -'Speed Stab.'- -'Speed Stab.'-

By the time he joined Cerberus his mana was depleted and his level rose again.

**Level Up**

Jon and Cerberus fought back to back, with the wolves circling and killing at random players on all sides. In the nick of time Jon noticed a strong light coming from afar.

A mage used all of his mana to create a huge ball of fire and it was almost ready.

Jon stepped in hard and put all of his weight forward. Without giving it a second thought he threw his sword at the mage.

The focus stat and the owl's instinct skill kicked in and the system made Jon let go of the sword at just the right moment.

It flew through the air, reflecting the red light of the fireball and looking like a sword made of ambers. It impaled the mage's stomach and forced her to break off the casting.

The huge ball of flames exploded with enough force to blow away all the leaves from the trees behind it.

Mages and bowmen around it were burned to death as it exploded and some unfortunate warriors became stunned. A wolf that was in the radius of the explosion was running around with his fur on fire. In its frenzy it ran into players, setting them on fire as it did.

The explosion became the turning point of the battle.

While Jon and the wolves were much stronger than the rest of the players, the number of players would have overwhelmed them eventually. Fortunately, the explosion together with the sight of Cerberus' flinging cut up bodies into the air with every swing of its claws, caused some players' nerves to break down.

Most of the range attackers fled back to the citadel, and with every death, more and more players deserted the fight.

**Level Up**

**Level Up**

**Speed Stab Levels Up**

**Level 2: Number of stabs: 2**

**Attack power +5%**

**Mp Cost: 20**

As the sun rays began to show over the horizon the last players fell to the ground. It happened at the nick of time, a bit longer and the wolves' night time power bonus would have been canceled.

The sun rose over the field of battle bringing to light just how many have died. Jon and the wolves stood in the middle of piles of dead bodies.

He was bleeding hard but he didn't care as he felt better than ever. The way he fought would have never been possible in real life. The acrobatics and kill moves he used never worked when he tried them in the pit, but in this battle they not only worked but they worked well.

The wolves were howling at the pale remnants of the moon. Some members of their pack had died and the rest of them survived the battle with bad wounds.

The wolves began the battle the same size, but now out of the thirty who began only ten survived, each of them was a different size now.

They surrounded Jon and nuzzled him from all sides, licking his and each others wounds. Some wolves whimpered as the bigger wounds were licked clean.

**End of the War**

**The battle is over.**

**You have become stronger and will of today be known as the winner of the battle named "The fleeing of the newbs".**

**Level Rises**

**Fame Rises By 300 (+300 Fame)**

**Title granted: "Leader of the pack"**

**Title bonus: Charisma +10**

**Taming animals becomes 20% easier and faster.**

**Wolf's Blood Lust Buff Has Been Canceled**

The bodies covering the grassland all turned grey at the same time and disappeared. No evidence that anything had happened at all was left. Only the dead wolves were left to lie in their own blood.

Jon began digging a grave and they joined. They put the dead wolves inside and covered it back with dirt. He gathered a few stones and put them in a circle on top of the middle of the grave. Inside the circle he drove his sword into the ground. He stood in silence, giving his respect to those who fought alongside him. The surviving wolves did the same by howling a sad howl.

**Memorial of the Beasts Created**

**To remember those who have fallen to the human madness, the sword of a true friend to the animals will be engraved with the names of those who died fighting the humans.**

A yellow glow enveloped the sword, and when it dissipated, runes were engraved into the blade.

The wolves went back to the forest and Jon went back to the citadel.

He passed remnants of the battle as he entered the gates. Players who had run away looked at Jon with fear and respect as he passed them. Some tried to attack him, but were saved from Jon's wrath by the Npc guards.

He didn't go back to work like he was supposed to. He simply couldn't. The remaining wolves were left weak and hurt and any player brave enough could easily kill them all. Worry filled him and wandering the citadel streets, thinking of a way to help them, he saw the answer before him.


End file.
